-/V^:•'XS^itsv'^?SBffc>■!J)ffl.■!^'fwssli?t7WJ^.Rl;s^•'¥^5.'!:l;■!^^ 


HE  FINDING  OF  THE  CROSS 


LOUIS  DE  COMBES 


,<    '  :.;;^■i^.:■l^'i::-,^;■ft;.;:>.- 


Divisioa    BSS-I-SS 
Sectioa     »    I  I.e.  I 


THE   INTERNATIONAL   CATHOLIC   LIBRARY 

Edited  by  Rev.  J.  Wilhelm,  D.D.,  Ph.D. 


VOL.  X. 


Nihil  obstat 


J.  WILHELM,  S.T.D. 
Censor  deputatus 


Imprim  i  potest 


►J.  GULIELMUS 

Epi Scopus  Arindelensis 

Vicarius  Generalis 


Westmonasterii 

die  II  Mart  a  1Q07 


THE  FINDING  OF  THE 
CROSS 


BY        , 


LOUIS  DE  COMBES 


AUTHORISED   TRANSLATION 
BY 

LUIGI     CAPPADELTA 


NEW  YORK,   CINCINNATI,   CHICAGO 
BENZIGER   BROTHERS 

Printers  to  the   Holy  Apostolic  See 
1907 


The   rights   of  translation  and  reproduction   are   reserved 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Author's  Prefatory  Note             .             .             .             .  vii 

Translator's  Note              .....  ix 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Holy  Places  in  the  Year  33             .              .  1 

II.  The  Hiding  of  the  Cross  and  of  the  Tomb        .  39 

III.  St.  Helena.     The  Labarum            ...  90 

IV.  The  Recovery  of  the  True  Cross             .             .  141 

V.  Helena  Divides  the  Cross.      Her  Death              .  159 

VI.  The  Subsequent  History  of  the  Instruments  of 

THE  Passion      .  .  .  .  .167 

VII.  Objections  against  the  Story  of  the  Finding  of 

THE  Cross          .....  223 

VIII.  The  Legends  of  the  Finding  of  the  Cross          .  254 

Appendix      ......  267 

Index            ......  279 


PREFATORY   NOTE   OF   THE   AUTHOR 

We  quote  the  Fathers  according  to  Migne's  Patro- 
logia ;  P.L.  stands  for  the  Latin,  P.G.  for  the  Greek 
Patrology ;  in  either  case  the  figures  following  the 
Roman  numeral  show  the  number  of  the  column. 

Acta  SS.  refers  to  the  Acta  Sanctorum  of  the 
Bollandists.  Eocuv.  stands  for  Comte  de  Riant's 
Exuvice  Sacrce  Constcmtinopolitanoe. 

The  ancient  Palestine-Pilgrims'  texts  are  quoted 
from  Tobler  and  Molinier's  Itinera  et  desc7iptio7ies 
Terrce  Sanctoe,  from  Michelant  and  Raynaud's 
Itineraires  a  Jerusalem,  and  from  Mme.  de  Khit- 
rowo's  translation,  Itineraires  russes  en  Orient.  All 
three  collections  were  published  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Societe  de  VOrient  latin. 

We  have  also  made  great  use  of  Canon  Ulysse 
Chevalier's  Repertoire  des  sources  historiques  du 
moyen-dge,  one  of  the  most  trustworthy  sources  of 
information,  and  of  Molinier  and  Kohler's  Itinera 
Hierosolymitana,  in  which  much  of  our  material  is 
classified  chronologically. 

We  must  also  express  our  deep  gratitude  to  the 
Abbe  Parayre,  editor  of  the  Revue  de  VUnivei^site 
catholique,  for  having  published  some  of  our  essays ; 


viii  PREFATORY   NOTE 

to  M.  Hugues  Vaganay,  the  erudite  librarian  of  the 
Cathohc  University,  who  furnished  us  with  much 
useful  information,  and  also  to  Father  Baudouy,  the 
Superior  of  the  monastery  of  Notre-Dame-de-France 
(Jerusalem),  and  to  Father  Leopold  Dressaire,  a 
professor  at  the  same  establishment,  who  kindly 
consented  to  correct  our  sketch  of  the  Holy  Places. 


TRANSLATOR'S   NOTE 

We  have  made  full  use  of  the  permission  given  us 
by  the  Author  to  incorporate  in  this  work  any  addi- 
tional notes  we  judged  necessary,  even  where  they 
are  at  variance  with  the  Author's  own  views ;  these 
notes  are  enclosed  in  square  brackets.  We  have 
also  embodied  in  the  translation  a  few  emendations 
suggested  by  the  Author,  and  have  been  at  pains  to 
verify  as  far  as  possible  the  references. 


THE    FINDING    OF   THE 
CROSS 

CHAPTER   I 

THE   HOLY   PLACES  IN  THE  YEAR  33 1 

Thirty-seven  years  after  the  Passion  of  Christ,  the 
Jerusalem  which  He  had  known  was  wiped  out  of 
existence  by  the  legionaries  of  Titus ;  in  the  next 
century  Adrian  had  the  ruins  cleared,  and  buried 
what  remained  of  the  Holy  Places  beneath  the 
foundations  of  a  new  city,  to  which  he  gave  the  name 
of  ^lia  Capitolina ;  Constantine's  misdirected  piety 
pushed   even   further   the  work   of  destruction,  for 

^  See  C.  J.  M.  de  Vogiie,  Les  Eglises  de  Terre  Sainte.  Paris, 
I860.  F.  Caignart  de  Saulcy,  Voyage  en  Terre  Sainte,  2nd  ed. 
vol.  ii.  p.  39/!  Paris:  Didier,  1872.  Victor  Guerin,  La  Terre 
Sainte  et  Jerusalem,  p.  11  f.  Paris:  Plon,  1897.  Zanecchia,  La 
Palestina  d'oggi,  studiata  e  descritta  nei  suoi  santuari  e  nelle  sue 
localita  bibliche  e  storiche.  Translated  into  French  as  La  Palestine 
d'aujourd'hui,  ses  Sanctuaires,  ses  Localites  bibliques  et  historiques  by 
H.  Dorangeon.  Paris  :  Lethielleux.  Huit  jours  a  Jerusalem,  Maison 
de  la  Bonne  Presse,  Paris.  (This  is  a  valuable  work,  written  by  an 
Assumptionist,  a  member  of  the  monastery  of  Notre-Dame-de- 
France  at  Jerusalem.)  Ollivier,  La  Passion,  c.  1.  Paris  :  Lethielleux, 
1898.  [English  trans.,  The  Passion,  by  Leahy.  Boston,  19OI.] 
F.  Martin,  Archeologie  de  la  Passion  (a  French  translation  and 
adaptation  of  J.  H.  Friedlieb's  work).  Paris:  Lethielleux,  1897. 
Lagrange,  Topographic  de  Jerusalem  in  the  Revue  bihlique,  1892, 
p.  17.  [See  also  Fergusson,  Essay  on  the  Ancient  Topography  of 
Jerusalem.  London  :  Weale,  1847,  and  the  authorities  quoted  in 
the  Encyclopaedia  Biblica,  art.  Jerusalem. — Trans.^ 


2         THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

after  having  brought  to  light  Calvary  and  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  he  had  the  ground  levelled,  so  that  there 
remained  above  the  surface  only  the  tomb  of  Christ 
and  the  block  of  granite  which  once  had  borne  the 
Cross.  Since  the  time  of  Constantine  matters  have 
gone  steadily  from  bad  to  worse  ;  the  Persians  under 
Chosroas,^  the  workmen  of  the  monk  Modestus,^ 
Omar's  Arabs,  and  Hakem's  incendiaries,  Constantine 
Monomachus,  later  on  the  Crusaders,  and  lastly  the 
Turks,  have  all  done  their  share  towards  obliterating 
the  remaining  traces  of  antiquity.  Where  are  the 
places  which  have  been  sanctified  by  the  blood  of 
Christ  and  the  tears  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  of 
the  Holy  A¥omen  ?  Where  is  the  stone  on  which 
the  angel  sat?  Where  was  that  last  scene  enacted 
which  re-opened  to  sinful  humanity  the  gates  of  the 
heaven  it  had  lost?  To  reconstruct  the  scene,  to 
find  the  position  of  Golgotha  and  of  the  garden 
belonging  to  Joseph  of  Arimatheea,  to  put  together, 
in  a  word,  the  local  framework  of  the  greatest 
event  in  history,  the  Christian  is  reduced  to  grop- 
ing among  the  works  of  Josephus  and  the  few  faint 
vestiges  of  the  past  which  casual  excavations  bring 
to  light ;  the  most  he  can  do  is  to  dream  of  things 
which  he  can  no  longer  see.  This  archaeological 
raising  up  of  that  which  is  now  no  more  would  re- 
quire a  lengthier  consideration  and  discussion  than  we 
can  well  afford  to  give  now,  hence  our  readers  must 
pardon  us  if  our  description  of  the  Holy  Places  is 
very  summary.^ 

^  See  L.  de  Combes,  De  Finvetition  a  T exaltation  de  la  S.  Crobc,  Paris, 
1903,  p.  238  //:  2  Jiyid^  p,  254  ff. 

3  We  shall  follow,  in  our  topographical  description,  the  maps  and 
plans  adopted  by  Zanecchia,  op.  cit.  We  hereinafter  quote  from 
the  French  translation  of  this  wi-iter's  work. 


CALVARY 


1.    CALVARY 


"The  city,"  says  Josephus/  "is  built  upon  two 
hills  which  are  opposite  to  one  another  and  have  a 
valley  to  divide  them  asunder ;  at  which  valley  the 
corresponding  rows  of  houses  on  both  hills  end.  Of 
these  hills,  that  which  contains  the  upper  city  is  much 
higher,  and  in  length  more  direct.  Accordingly  it 
was  called  the  '  Citadel '  by  King  David,  who  was 
the  father  of  that  Solomon  who  built  the  Temple."" 
Accordingly  on  modern  plans  the  higher  or  western 
city  is  styled  Mount  Sion,  the  lower  or  eastern  city 
is  described  as  Ophel,  and  the  valley  lying  between 
the  two  quarters  is  called  the  Tyropoeon  [or  vale  of 
the  Cheesemongers].  However,  the  learned  monks 
of  the  Dominican  convent  of  St.  Stephen  and  of 
the  monastery  of  Notre-Dame-de-France  ^  now  admit 
that  Josephus  was  in  the  wrong.  Ophel,  though 
more  than  150  feet  below  the  higher  city,  was 
in  all  probability  the  locality  in  which  was  situated 
the  fortress  of  the  Jebusites  and  of  David.  Of 
it  alone  can  it  be  said,  as  we  find  it  stated  in 
the  Psalms,  that  it  is  surrounded  by  mountains ;  * 
it  was  only  much  later  that  the  name  of  Sion, 
which  had  been  a  synonym  of  Ophel,  was  given 
to  the  higher  city  on  account  of  the  Christian 
memories  it  contained.^     In  his  turn  Solomon  con- 

'^  Wars  of  the  Jervs,  Whiston's  trans.,  V.  iv.  1. 

2  Tacitus  says  (Hist.  v.  11):  "  The  walls  enclosed  two  hills  covered 
by  a  multitude  of  dwellings." 

3  As  representing  the  Dominicans^  see  Zanecchia,  op.  cit.  vol.  i. 
p.  236,  sq.  ;  representing  the  Assumptionists  we  have  the  work 
alluded  to  above,  Hiiit  jours  a  Jerusalem,  p.  29,  sq. 

4  Ps.  cxxiv.  2.     Montes  in  circuitu  ejus. 

6  This  had  occurred  already  in  the  fourth  century,  for  the  higher 
city  is  thus  described  by  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim  (333)  and  St.  Jerome. 


4         THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

structed  the  Temple  at  the  north  -  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  the  earhest  walls  of  the  city,  on 
Mount  JNIoriah,  which  thus  was  incorporated  with 
Jerusalem. 

From  the  east,  south,  and  west  the  city  was  im- 
pregnable, "  being  surrounded  by  deep  valleys,  and 
by  reason  of  the  precipices  to  them  belonging,  on 
both  sides."  ^  Its  walls  overlooked  the  ravine  formed 
by  the  Cedron,  the  field  of  Haceldama,  and  the 
valleys  of  Gehenna  and  Hinnom.  The  existence 
of  these  natural  barriers  also  made  impossible  any 
growth  of  the  city  in  these  directions ;  but  towards 
the  north  it  was  otherwise,  for  here  the  mountain 
gradually  shelved  towards  Golgotha,  Gareb,  and 
Bezetha.  Hence  it  was  here,  especially  on  Acra, 
that  new  quarters  began  to  spring  up,  calling  also 
for  the  construction  of  new  fortifications ;  such  was 
the  so-called  second  wall  built  by  Ezechias,  and 
the  third  wall,  raised  by  Herod  Agrippa  (of  this 
last  we  shall  have  no  more  to  say,  as  it  was 
erected  after  the  death  of  Christ) ;  it  was  also  this 
side  of  the  city  which  had  to  bear  the  onslaughts 
of  the  enemies  of  Israel,  whether  Assyrians  or 
Romans. 

In  33  the  north-western  angle  of  the  first  wall 
(that  of  David  and  Solomon)  was  occupied  by 
Herod's  palace,  which  was  overtopped  by  the  three 
great  towers,  Hippicus,"  Phazaelus,  and  that  of 
Slariamne.  The  north  wall  ran  directly  east  and 
west.  As  Josephus  says,  it  began  at  the  Hippicus 
and  ended  at  the  western  cloister  of  the  Temple. 
The  Temple  itself,  a  huge  equal-sided  and  strongly 

^  Josephus,  loc.  cil. 

2  Possibly  what  is  now  known  as  David's  Tower,  near  the  Jaffa 
Gate. 


CALVARY  5 

fortified  area,  stretched  towards  the  north,  its  north- 
western angle  being  overlooked  by  the  fortress  of 
Antonia,  where  the  Romans  kept  their  watch.  The 
north  wall  of  the  oldest  city  and  the  western  wall 
of  the  Temple  area  formed  what  was  practically  a 
right  angle.  It  was  in  this  angle  that,  after  the  time 
of  Solomon,  a  new  city  began  to  rise,  and  it  was 
to  protect  this  new  quarter  that  Ezechias  had  to 
commence  the  construction  of  a  new  line  of  ram- 
parts, the  same  as  enclosed  the  city  in  the  time  of 
Christ. 


No^t-heKn  Walls  of   Je  RUSAlEM  ,  accoKcJioc]  To 
rriedlieb, Didoo  &  F  Martin  . 


Sheep  C^dte 

ajL  'Golden  QaPe 
Temple  I  c^^e 


liippiccis 


Ophe:l 


The  second  wall,  that  of  Ezechias,  took  its  be- 
ginning at  the  Gennath  Gate  and  reached  as  far  as 
the  tower  of  Antonia ;  so  says  Josephus,  but  his  too 
short  description  of  its  course  has  given  rise  to  two 


6         THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

alternative  hypotheses.^  According  to  some  this  wall 
proceeded  northward  from  about  the  middle  of  the 
old  north  wall  till  it  reached  a  point  level  with  the 
Antonia,  to  which  it  then  proceeded  in  a  direction 
parallel  to  that  of  the  earliest  wall ;  this  course  is 
illustrated  in  the  first  sketch.  Another  hypothetical 
course,  which  has  the  support  of  de  Saulcy,  de 
Vogiie,  Guerin,  Ollivier,  and  Zanecchia,  begins  at 
the  western  end  of  the  old  fortifications  quite  near 
to  Herod's  palace  (where  the  Gennath  Gate  may  well 
have  been  situated) ;  thence  the  wall  proceeds  north- 
ward for  a  distance  equal  to  about  a  third  of  the  total 
length  of  the  Temple  area ;  it  then  abruptly  turns 
eastward,  running  parallel  with  the  older  wall  until 
it  reaches  the  Ephraim  Gate,  where  it  is  again  de- 
flected in  a  northerly  direction.  On  reaching  the 
Porta  Antiqua  it  turns  towards  the  east,  and  in  a 
slightly  broken  line  proceeds  in  the  direction  of  the 
JMoriah,  passing  the  Fish  Gate,  and  terminating  at 
the  Antonia. 

These  hypotheses,  which  both  exclude  Golgotha 
from  the  precincts  of  the  city,  were  for  long  hotly 
contested  by  writers  of  the  Protestant  school,  such  as 
the  American  Robinson,  the  Swiss  Titus  Tobler,  and 
the  Englishman  Fergusson  - ;  now,  however,  they  are 
in  their  general  outlines  admitted  by  all,  especially 
since  the  excavations  conducted  by  Pierroti  in  1859, 

^  [There  is  also  a  third  hypothesis,  which  would  include  within 
the  walls  the  traditional  site  of  Golgotha,  the  principal  argument 
of  its  upholders  being  the  impossibility  of  otherwise  accounting 
for  the  large  population  of  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  the  siege. 
See  Josephus,  Wars  of  the  Jews,  II.  xiv.  3  ;  VI.  ix,  .'}.  But  we  may 
point  out  that  the  wall-protected  area  was  enlarged  by  Agrippa. 
Jos.  Ant.  XIX.  vii.  2. — Trans^ 

See  the  bibliography  of  this  question  in  Martin,  oj).  cit.  p.  173, 
note  1. 


CALVARY  7 

and  by  de  Voglie  in  1862,  have  brought  to  hght  a 
piece  of  ancient  wall  and  a  monumental  gateway  near 
the  present  hostelry  for  noble  Russians.^  Concerning 
the  precise  character  of  these  remains  there  is  indeed 

Novibeyn  Walls  of  JERUSALEM  accoKclina  To 
Zanecchia,de  5aulc^,  de  Voaue  GaeKin  c-  OllivieK. 


Q_ 


Hippicus 


s^o/v 


3  Horis  Anr/^aa  >. 

^  ^o/on/a  ^ 

5  Garden  of  Joseph  of  Af/mathae 

6  Cafyaf^ 

7  //e*'oe/s  P<i/3ce 

8  /vi?//  o/'  £jec/>/aA 

some  controversy ;  whilst  de  Voglie  considered  them 
to  be  a  fragment  of  the  wall  of  Ezechias  and  of  one 
of  its  gates,  a  Dominican  of  the  convent  of  St.  Stephen 
has  since  identified  them,  by  means  of  a  Cufic  inscrip- 
tion, with  a  portico  of  Constantine's  basilica.^  But 
one  point  is  clear :  M.  de  Vogue  discovered  among 

1  Zanecchia,  op.  cit.  vol.  ii.  p.  292. 

2  Rexme  hihliqiie ,  1897,  p.  ()45. 


8         THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

the  remains  a  quantity  of  ancient  stone  balls  such  as 
were  used  by  the  Romans  in  their  sieges.^  Their 
presence  has  been  taken  as  showing  that  the  Romans 
attacked  this  point  with  their  siege  machinery,  and 
that  hence  we  are  here  on  the  site  of  a  wall. 

Though  Jerusalem  had  been  destroyed  by  Nabu- 
chodonozor,  yet  in  the  year  33  it  was  still  the  custom 
to  speak  of  the  wall  of  David  and  of  the  wall  of 
Ezechias,  because  in  their  veneration  for  the  past  the 
Jews  had  rebuilt  on  their  old  foundation  not  only 
Ezechias's,  but  also  David's  wall." 

The  little  knoll  of  Calvary  reared  its  head  outside 
the  city  walls,  in  a  corner  of  which  the  angle  was 
occupied  by  the  Ephraim  Gate.  The  outer  wall, 
says  Josephus,  was  25  cubits  high  (37J  feet),  at 
intervals  of  200  cubits  it  was  strengthened  by  bastions 
20  cubits  square  (30  feet),  and  which  rose  20  cubits 
above  the  level  of  the  walls.  A  flight  of  large  stairs 
led  to  the  summit  of  each  tower ;  within  there  were 
lodgings,  and  cisterns  to  contain  rain-water,^  and  at 
the  foot  a  deep  ditch.  The  wall  of  Ezechias  was  de- 
fended by  fourteen  such  towers  between  the  Gennath 
Gate  and  the  Antonia.  There  is,  however,  little 
doubt  that  the  description  given  by  Josephus  is  exag- 
gerated, and  according  to  Father  Zanecchia's  plan 
the  length  of  the  wall  should  be  reduced  by  about 
one-fourth. 

The  same  writer  computes  that  between  the  Pm^ta 
Antiq7ia  and  the  Ephraim  Gate  there  was  a  distance 
of  about  450  feet.*  If  this  be  correct,  then  the  walls 
which  bounded  Golgotha  on  its  southern  and  eastern 

1  Victor  Guerin,  op.  cit.  p.  79.     [See  a  description  of  these  pro- 
jectiles, each  a  talent  in  weight,  in  Jos.  Wars,  V.  vi.  3. — Trans.^ 
^  2  Esdras  iii.  ^  Jos.  Wars,  V.  iv.  3. 

*  Op.  cit.  vol.  i.  pp.  2.50,  251. 


CALVARY  9 

side  would  have  measured  altogether  about  900  feet. 
On  their  other  or  north-western  side  the  Holy  Places 
were  enclosed  by  the  rising  ground  of  Gareb.  So 
near  was  Golgotha  to  the  city  walls  that  according 
to  the  fourth  Gospel  the  title  on  the  cross  was  "  read 
by  many  of  the  Jews."  ^  Father  Didon  is  of  opinion 
that  the  cross  was  not  more  than  twenty  paces  away 
from  the  ditch  which  ran  close  under  the  ramparts. 

Calvary  was  simply  a  little  rocky  eminence  which 
arose  naked  amidst  the  surrounding  gardens.  Its 
name  has  been  variously  accounted  for.  Some  think 
that  it  originated  in  a  resemblance  between  the  naked 
rock  and  the  head  of  a  bald  man,  calvus ;  ^  others  in 
the  fact  that  this  was  the  spot  used  for  capital  punish- 
ment ;  ^  others  explain  the  name  by  means  of  a  Jewish 
tradition,  according  to  which  in  Solomon's  time  a 
skull  had  been  found  in  a  cleft  in  the  rock,  and  had, 
on  the  strength  of  certain  magic  disclosures,  been 
described  by  Solomon  as  Adam's  skull.*  Hence  the 
name  of  Calvary,  or  in  Hebrew  Golgotha — i.e.  the 
place  of  the  skull. ^ 

Fouard^  notes  that,  according  to  St.  Jerome  and 
numerous  other  interpreters,  the  name  arose  through 

1  Jn.  xix.  20. 

^  Thus  Ollivier  compares  it  to  the  name  Chaumont,  by  which  so 
many  hills  in  France  are  designated.     Op.  cit.  p.  359,  note  1. 

^  e.g.  Friedlieb-Martin,  op.  cit.  p.  172. 

*  Basil  of  Seleucia,  Orat.  xxxviii.  3  {P.G.  Ixxxv.  410).  See  the 
legend  more  fully  described  in  L.  de  Combes,  De  I'inv.  a  I'exalt. 
p.  83. 

^  ToTTos  Tov  KpavLov.  [To  pilgrims  a  cave  in  the  rock  of  Calvary, 
now  within  the  Holy  Sepulchre  Church,  is  still  pointed  out  as 
"Adam's  Grotto."  For  yet  another  view,  identifying  Golgotha 
with  the  Goatha  of  Jeremias  (xxxi.  39),  see  KrafFt,  Topographic 
Jerusalems,  pp.  158-170. — Trans.^ 

c  Vie  de  Jesus,  12th  ed.  vol.  ii.  p.  365,  note  1.  [English  trans, 
by  Griffith,  The  Christ  the  Son  of  God.     Longmans,  1891.] 


10       THE    FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  skulls  of  the  condemned  being  left  to  bleach  on 
the  spot  where  they  had  been  done  to  death,^  but 
were  this  the  case  the  word  ought  to  be  in  the  plural 
number;  Golgotha  means  not  "skulls,"  but  "the 
skull,"  or  as  Luke  translates  it,  Kpavlov.  It  is  also 
incorrect  to  translate  Golgotha  as  "  the  bald  mount," 
for  Calvary  comes  from  the  noun  Calvaria,  which 
signifies  a  skull,  and  not  from  the  adjective  calvus, 
meaning  "  bald." 

De  Vogiid^  has  constructed  a  plan  which  is  very 
generally  followed.  According  to  him  Calvary  was  a 
kind  of  a  double  cliffy  standing  a  few  yards  from  the 
wall  of  Ezechias,  and  with  its  crests  pointing  towards 
the  north.  One  of  these  hillocks,  some  fifteen  feet 
in  height,  was  the  scene  of  the  crucifixion,  the  other 
contained  the  garden  and  sepulchre  of  Joseph  of 
Arimath^ea.^ 

It  is  probable  that  a  road  led  from  the  Gennath 
Gate  and,  after  winding  between  Calvary  and  the 
Gareb  quarter,  went  off  in  the  direction  of  Samaria,^ 
and  that  this  highway  was  to  the  north  of  Calvary 
joined  by  other  roads  leading  from  the  Ephraim  Gate 
and  from  the  Porta  Antiqua.  In  those  days  the  un- 
evenness  of  the  ground  was  much  more  pronounced 
than  it  is  at  present.  Father  Germer  -  Durand, 
summing  up  the  results  of  the  latest  excavations, 

^  This  view  is  incorrect ;  the  Jews  were  accustomed  to  bury  the 
bodies  of  the  condemned  together  with  the  instruments  of 
death. 

2  Op.  cit.  p.  126. 

®  Ibid.  p.  25.  Cp.  Cabrol,  Etude  siir  la  pcregrinatio  Silvia',  p.  7, 
and  Plate  1  on  p.  202. 

*  The  crest  of  Calvary  would  thus  rise  to  about  half  the  height 
of  the  neighbouring  city  wall. 

"  Didon,  Jesus  Christ,  \o\.  ii.  p.  336,  note  1.  [English  translation, 
Jesus  Christ,  a  Biography.     Kegan  Paul,  1891.] 


CALVARY  11 

says  ^ :  "  Calvary  is  but  one  of  a  series  of  hills  on 
which  Jerusalem  is  built,  a  slight  elevation  on  a  slope 
rising  gradually  towards  the  west.  This  hill,  which 
was  once  abrupt  and  separated  from  the  town  by  a 
deep  moat,  now  rises  barely  fifteen  feet  above  the 
present  artificial  level  [i.e.  the  floor  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  Church]  ;  to  reach  the  old  level  we  should 
have  to  dig  at  least  thirty  feet  into  the  accumulated 
rubbish  on  which  the  surrounding  buildings  stand. 
The  depression  in  which  Calvary  was  situated,  and 
which  it  is  now  so  difficult  for  us  to  realise,  was  doubt- 
less at  the  time  of  Christ  even  more  accentuated  than 
it  should  have  been  naturally ;  it  had  no  doubt  been 
deepened  in  order  to  serve  as  a  part  of  the  moat 
defending  the  second  wall.  But  when  Adrian  rebuilt 
Jerusalem  he  was  led  to  level  this  spot  in  order  to  be 
able  to  build  thereon  a  pagan  temple." 

Calvary  was  surrounded  by  gardens,  in  which,  in 
accordance  with  Jewish  custom,  the  inhabitants  had 
built  their  graves.  Father  Gargarin  adds^:  "A 
screen  of  rocks  some  twenty  feet  high,  of  which  the 
crest  now  coincides  with  the  surface  of  the  '  Chris- 
tians' Street '  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  Church,  contained  many  sepulchres 
carved  out  of  the  rock,  and  evidently  of  Jewish  origin. 
One  of  these  sepulchres  is  still  in  existence,  and  is 
known  as  that  of  Joseph  of  Arimathsea.^     It  is  thus 

"^  La  Basilique  du  S.  Sepulcre,  in  Revue  hihlique,  1896,  p,  322. 

^LeS.  Sepulcre  et  latopographie  de  Jerusalem, inthe  Etudes,  1 868, p.  692. 

3  Who  apparently  possessed  two  sepulchres.  The  first,  which 
was  constructed  to  contain  several  bodies,  must  have  been  already 
full  when  Joseph  built  the  "  new  sepulchre  "  in  which  Christ  was 
buried.  See  Clerraont-Ganneau,  L' authenticite  du  S.  Sepulcre  et  le 
tomheati  de  Joseph  d'  Arhnathee  :  Paris.  Leroux,  1877.  [The  entrance 
to  the  so-called  Tomb  of  Joseph  of  Arimathasa  is  in  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  Church. — Trans.^ 


12       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

evident  that  just  here  there  existed  a  cemetery,  of  which 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  probably  also  the  tomb  of 
the  priest  John  mentioned  by  Josephus,  formed  a  part." 
We  must  beware  of  thinking  that,  because  it  con- 
tained tombs,  this  spot  was  as  cheerless  and  forsaken 
as    are   our  modern  graveyards ;  the  very  ftict  that 
Calvary  was  chosen  to  be  the  place  of  Christ's  death 
proves  it   to   have   been   a   much   frequented   spot.^ 
Both  Romans  and  Jews  followed  the  custom  described 
by  Quintilian  :  "  Whenever  we  execute  criminals  we 
select  a  spot  to  which  people  resort,  in  order  that 
many  may  witness,  and  be  impressed  by,  the  carrying 
out  of  the  sentence."     This  was  the  reason  which 
induced  the  ancients  to  choose  the  town  gates  as  the 
place  of  execution."     The  Damascus,  Jaffa,  and  Gaza 
roads  began  at  the  Porta  Antiqua.     Travellers,  pil- 
grims, tourists,  and  merchants  constantly  passed  the 
place  on  their  way  to  or  from  the  city,  and  the  tents 
pitched  round  about  by  the  pilgrims  at  the  time  of 
the  festival  must  have  added  largely  to   the  usual 
activity  of  the  neighbourhood.^     The  road  from  Sion 
to  its  suburbs  also  passed  near  this  spot.     From  the 
walls   it   was    possible,   through    the   cleft   between 
Calvary  and  the  city  ramparts,  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  new  houses  of  Bezetha  and  of  the  villas  and  gardens 
on  Gareb,  where  there  grew  the  vivid  green,  close-set 
hedges  of  the  Zizypkus  spina  Christi,  the  traditional 
material  out  of  which  was  made  the  crown  of  thorns.* 

1  Friedlieb-Martin,  op.  ct  he.  cit. 

2  Cicero,  hi  Verrem,  vi.  Q6 ;  Plautus,  Miles  Gloriosus,  360 ; 
Hebrews,  xiii.  12. 

3  Ollivier,  op.  cit.  p.  368. 

^  F.  de  Mely,  La  Couronne  d'cpines  (^Ilevue  de  I' art  chrrlieii),  IPOO, 
p.  218.  \T\\c  zizyphns  belongs  to  tlie  buckthorn  tribe;  in  ancient 
times  it  probably  served  the  purpose  for  which  now  the  cactus 
opuntia  is  used. — Trans.^ 


CALVARY  13 

According  to  certain  traditions  collected  by  St. 
Jerome,  by  Venerable  Bede,  and  the  pilgrim  Ernoul  ^ 
(a.d.  1231),  Calvary  was  the  spot  where  executions 
commonly  took  place.  St.  Cyril,  however,  holds  the 
opposite  view.  Father  Ollivier  thus  sums  up  the 
reasons  against  the  former  opinion  ^ :  "  Calvary  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  the  usual  place  of  execution, 
though  the  shape  would  have  fitted  it  to  serve  as 
such.  The  Jews  were  wont  to  lead  the  condemned 
to  a  high  cliff,  from  which  they  might  be  thrown. 
The  executioners  stood  below,  and  when  the  body 
fell,  if  it  still  showed  signs  of  life,  they  finished  the 
work  by  dashing  rocks  upon  it.^  With  regard  to 
those  crucified,  they  were  put  to  death  by  the  way- 
side, the  main  preoccupation  of  the  authorities  being 
to  make  their  death  an  example  to  others.  But  this 
was  more  a  Roman  than  a  Jewish  custom,  so  that  the 
Jews  probably  left  the  arrangements  to  the  soldiers 
of  the  Procurator."  St.  Stephen  was  probably  stoned 
elsewhere ;  it  is  true  that  the  Acts  of  the  A2J0stles 
does  not  describe  the  spot,^  but  we  know  from  the 
Fathers  that  the  basilica  in  his  honour  was  erected  on 
the  place  of  his  martyrdom,'^  and  from  the  pilgrim 
Theodosius  (sixth  century)  we  learn  that  this  spot  was 
some  300  yards  to  the  north  of  the  Galilean  Gate.*^ 

^  Et  pour  90U  apele  on  eel  mont  Mont  de  Calvaire,  e'on  i  faisoit 
les  iustices  et  90U  que  li  lois  aportoit,  et  c'on  i  escauvoit  les  membres 
e'on  leur  iugeoit  a  perdre  (I'Estat  de  la  citez  de  Jherusalein),  in  Miche- 
lant  and  Raynaud,  Itineraires  a  Jerusalem,  Geneva  :  Fick,  1882,  p.  37. 

2  Op.  cif.  pp.  368-369. 

^  Sanhedrim,  iv.  and  v.;  Stapfer,  Palestine,  p.  112. 

*  vii.  57 — viii.  2. 

5  Basil  of  Seleucia  {P.G.  Ixxxv.  469);  Evagrius  (Migne,  P.G. 
Ixxxvi.  col.  2483).  [The  new  church  of  the  Dominicans  is  stated 
to  occupy  the  site  of  the  early  basilica. — Trans. ^ 

'^  Sanctus  Stephanus  foris  portam  Galilasae  lapidatus  est.     Ibi  et 


14       THE   FINDING   OF   THE    CROSS 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  make  a  distinction 
between  the  Jewish  custom  of  stoning,  for  which  no 
special  place  was  assigned,  and  the  Roman  custom  of 
crucifying,  for  which  the  usual  spot  may  have  been 
Golgotha.  The  holes  to  contain  the  feet  of  the 
crosses  must  have  been  chiselled  out  of  the  rock,  and 
it  is  scarcely  likely  that  they  were  made  anew  for 
each  man  condemned  to  die  by  crucifixion.  If  in  the 
case  of  Christ  it  had  been  necessary  to  make  such  a 
hole,  the  Passion  would  have  lasted  much  longer 
than  it  did.  If  this  view  be  correct,  then  the  noble 
Jews  of  knightly  rank  whom  in  64  Florus  scourged 
and  then  condemned  to  death  were  probably  crucified 
on  the  same  spot  which  had  been  chosen  for  Christ.^ 

2.    THE    VIA    DOLOROSA 

The  Via  Dolorosa  is  the  road  followed  by  Christ 
when  proceeding  from  Pilate's  hall  to  Golgotha.  St. 
John  is  the  only  Evangelist  who  gives  any  details — 
and  such  as  they  are  they  are  insufficient — of  the 
building  in  which  sentence  was  passed  on  Christ. 
The  chiefs  of  the  Jews  led  Christ  to  the  governor's 
hall,  but  "  they  went  not  into  the  hall  that  they  might 
not  be  defiled,  but  might  eat  the  Pasch."-  A  Jew 
by  entering  a  pagan  house  became  unclean  until  the 
evening.^  Pilate  accordingly  went  out  to  them,^  and 
asked  them :  "  What  accusation  bring  you  against 
this  man  ? "  After  hearing  their  complaints  he  left 
them,  and  returning  to  the  hall  ^  he  called  Jesus  before 

ecclesia  ejus  est  (De  Terra  Sancta ;  Titus  Tobler,  Itinera  el  descrip- 
tiones  Teira;  Snncla;,  Geneva  :  Fick,  1877,  p.  66). 

1  Jos.  fVars,  II.  xiv.  f).  ^  Jn.  xviii.  28. 

3  Martin,  op.  cit.  p.  128.  *  Jn.  xviii.  29. 

''  Jn.  xviii.  '33. 


THE   VIA    DOLOROSA  15 

him.  After  having  given  utterance  to  his  vi^ell-known 
exclamation:  "What  is  truth?"  he  left  Jesus,  and 
again  went  out^  to  ask  the  Jews  whom  they  would 
prefer,  Jesus  or  Barabbas.  On  the  crowd  taking  up 
the  cry  "  Barabbas  "  the  governor  re-entered  the  hall, 
and  after  having  scourged  Christ  went  out  a  third 
time "  to  tell  the  Jews  that  in  his  opinion  the  accused 
man  was  innocent.  At  his  heels  there  came  Jesus 
Himself,  crowned  with  thorns,  and  wearing  a  purple 
robe.  Pilate  pointed  to  his  prisoner,  and  spoke  the 
words  :  "  Behold  the  man,"  Ecce  Homo  ;  but  the  Jews 
were  obdurate,  and  only  cried  :  "  Crucify  him,  crucify 
him."  Pilate,  disquieted  by  their  behaviour,  again 
returned  to  the  hall,^  and  questioned  Jesus  for  the 
last  time ;  outside  the  people  were  clamouring :  "  If 
thou  release  this  man,  thou  art  not  Caesar's  friend." 
Then  the  ambition  of  the  magistrate  getting  the 
better  of  his  sense  of  justice,*  he  again  "  brought 
Jesus  forth,  and  sat  down  on  the  judgment-seat  in 
the  place  which  is  called  Lithostrotos  ^  in  Greek,  and 
in  Hebrew,  Gabbatha."^ 

This  narrative  presupposes  that  the  governor's  hall 
or  praetorium  opened  on  to  a  paved  public  place ; 
Pilate  is  described  as  going  in  and  out  so  frequently 
that  it  seems  he  had  only  a  few  steps  to  take.  The 
spot  where  Pilate  had  the  desk  or  pulpit,  bema,^  set 

^  .In.  xviii.  38.  ^  Jn.  xix.  4. 

3  Jn.  xix.  9.  ^  Jn.  xix.  13. 

^  This  word  signifies  a  pavement.  It  is  composed  of  \i9os,  a 
stonCj  and  crTpoivwixi,  to  strew.  Martin,  op.  cit.  p.  131,  note  6, 
translates  it  by  "mosaic." 

6  Meaning  a  high  place.  [See  Pilate's  after-history  in  L.  de 
Combes,  De  tinv.  a  I' exalt,  p.  175  Jf.  The  story  goes  that  he  com- 
mitted suicide  on  the  mountain  near  Lucern  which  bears  his  name. — 
Trans. ^^ 

^  BrJ/Att.     Ollivier,  op.  cit.  p.  219;  Martin,  op.  cit.  p.  131. 


16       THE   FINDING  OF   THE   CROSS 

up,  in  which,  sitting  on  the  sella^  or  judgment-seat 
he  was  to  pass  sentence,  must  have  been  an  open 
space  of  considerable  size,  since  there  was  room  in 
it  for  the  crowd  of  Jews,  and  also  for  a  cohort  of 
soldiers. 

The  tradition  commonly  followed  by  pilgrims 
locates  the  prietorium  in  the  fortress  of  Antonia, 
where  the  legionaries  were  quartered.  Risings  were 
constantly  taking  place  among  the  Jews,  and  it  is 
conceivable  that  the  governor,  realising  the  danger 
of  living  in  the  city,  had  taken  up  his  abode  and 
established  his  court  inside  the  walls  of  the  strong- 
hold. According  to  this  tradition  the  Antonia  was 
approached  by  the  Scala  Sancta,  whilst  some  ninety 
yards  away  was  the  arch  in  solid  masonry,  the  Ecce 
Homo  arch,  from  which  Pilate  is  supposed  to  have 
exhibited  to  the  mob  the  Son  of  Man.'^ 

The  real  starting-point  of  the  Via  Dolorosa  is  now 
a  subject  of  much  discussion.  The  first  to  fall  was  the 
authenticity  of  the  arch.  It  is  in  disagreement  with 
the  Gospel  narrative ;  according  to  St.  John  "  Pilate 
therefore  went  forth,  and  said  to  them,  Behold  I 
bring  him  forth  unto  you  that  you  may  know  that  I 
find  no  cause  in  hiin  (Jesus  therefore  came  forth 
bearing  his  crown  of  thorns  and  the  purple  garment), 
and  he  said  to  them,  Behold  your  king."^  The 
scene  is  here  clearly  described.  Pilate  goes  out  of 
the  hall  on  to  the  Lithostrotos,  Jesus  slowly  follows 
him,  and  as  soon  as  He  too  has  reached  the  open 
space,  the  governor  presents  Him  to  the  people. 
Hence  we  should  be  flying  in  the  face  of  the  text 
were  we  to  locate  the  Eccc  Homo  scene  ninety  yards 
farther  off,  on  the  summit  of  an  arch — i.e.  on  a  first 

1  OUivier,  ibid.  -  OUivier^  op.  cil.  p,  334. 

"^  Jn.  xix.  5. 


THE   VIA  DOLOROSA  17 

storey — when  St.  John  simply  records  that  "  Pilate 
went  forth." 

Worse  still,  we  should  be  showing  ourselves  ignorant 
of  the  details  given  by  Josephus  concerning  the  siege 
in  A.D.  70.  Titus,  first  of  all,  gained  possession  of  the 
Antonia,  and  then  razed  it  in  order  to  make  a  ready 
passage  for  his  army  to  come  up,  and  a  platform  on 
which  he  might  place  his  engines  of  war  to  hurl  de- 
struction at  the  Temple.^  It  seems  impossible  that  a 
building  such  as  this  arch  could  have  remained  stand- 
ing at  this  point  after  the  levelling  operations,  and 
the  military  works  undertaken  by  Titus. 

Archseology,  finally,  has  ruined  the  basis  of  the 
tradition.  De  Saulcy  was  one  of  the  first  to  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  arch,  though  of  Roman  con- 
struction, was  put  up  after  33.^  De  Voglie,  however, 
hesitated  to  pronounce  any  opinion  until  he  was 
forced  to  de  Saulcy's  conclusion  by  a  new  discovery.^ 
The  edifice  is  now  proved  to  be  of  more  recent  date 
even  than  the  second  century ;  it  did  not  even  form 
a  part  of  the  original  JElia  Capitolma,  for  two  stones 
forming  part  of  the  vault  were  found  to  bear  the 
name  of  Aurelius,  and  Greek  characters  betraying  a 
third-century  origin.  George  Langherrand,  a  mayor 
of  Mons,  who  made  his  pilgrimage  about  the  year 
of  grace  1485,  was  not  far  wrong  when  he  described 
this  construction  as  "  a  stone  arch,  crossing  the  street, 
and  built  by  St.  Helena."* 

De  Vogiie,  Guerin,^  and  Ollivier  ^  relinquished  the 

1  Jos.  Wars,  VI.  ii.  1.  2  j)e  Saulcy,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  112. 

^  De  Vogiie,  Le  Temple  de  Jerusalem,  p.  125. 
*  Una  arcure  de  pierres  qui  traverse  la  rue,  laquelle  fict  faire 
saincte  Helainne. 

^  Guerin,  op.  cit.  p.  115. 
^  Ollivier,  op.  cit.  p.  112  and  p.  233. 
B 


18        THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

tradition  of  the  arch,  but  they  still  maintained  the 
exactitude  of  the  tradition  which  makes  the  Via 
Dolorosa  to  begin  at  the  Antonia.  According  to  de 
Vogiie  this  tradition  is  correct  in  this  sense,  that  the 
Antonia  being  the  abode  of  the  Roman  procurator, 
the  scourging  at  the  pillar  and  the  Eccc  Homo  scene 
must  have  taken  place  in  the  vicinity,  and  possibly 
on  the  very  spots  assigned  to  them  by  tradition. 

Was  the  nature  of  the  fortress  such  as  to  agree 
with  the  data  of  the  fourth  Gospel  ?  The  Antonia  is 
known  to  us  by  the  description  Josephus  gives  of  it. 
"  The  tower  of  Antonia  was  situated  at  the  corner  of 
two  cloisters  of  the  court  of  the  Temple,  of  that  on 
the  west,  and  of  that  on  the  north ;  it  was  erected 
upon  a  rock  fifty  cubits  in  height,  and  was  on  a  great 
precipice  ;  it  was  the  work  of  King  Herod.  ...  In  the 
first  place,  the  rock  itself  was  covered  over  with 
smooth  pieces  of  stone  from  its  foundation,  both  for 
ornament  and  that  anyone  who  would  either  try  to 
get  up  or  to  go  down  it  might  not  be  able  to  keep 
his  feet  upon  it."  ^ 

These  details  spoil  the  argument  adduced  by  the 
latest  defender  of  the  identity  of  the  prastorium  with 
the  fortress,  an  argument  which  this  able  writer  bases 
on  an  incident  in  the  siege  of  70.  The  Romans  were 
being  forced  back  into  the  Antonia  by  the  Jews, 
when  Julian,  a  centurion  of  great  strength  and  pluck, 
put  himself  in  a  position  to  cover  his  comrades'  re- 
treat, but  with  unfortunate  results  for  himself;  "for 
as  he  had  shoes  studded  with  thick  nails,  as  had  every 
one  of  the  other  soldiers,  when  he  ran  on  the  pave- 
ment of  the  Temple  he  slipped,  and  fell  down  on  his 
back,  making  a  great  clatter  with  his  armour."  -     The 

1  Jos.  Wars,  V.  v.  8. 

2  Jos.  op.  cit.  VI.  i.  8. 


THE   VIA   DOLOROSA  19 

Abbe  Fouard  ^  thus  explains  this  passage  of  Josephus  : 
"  The  historian  depicts  a  centurion  rushing  from  the 
Antonia  to  drive  back  the  Jews  towards  the  Temple 
and  slipping  on  the  pavement  of  the  Lithostrotos.  It 
follows  then  that  this  was  an  open  space  between  the 
fortress  and  the  Temple."  But  this  argument  is  based 
on  a  false  assumption.  Josephus  does  not  give  us  the 
name  of  the  place,  nor  was  it  on  the  stone  pavement 
of  the  Lithostrotos^  but  rather  on  the  smooth  stones 
which  defended  the  approaches  to  the  Antonia,  that 
the  Roman  officer  slipped,  and,  in  the  event,  found 
his  death. 

The  fortress  was  square  in  shape,  each  side  being 
about  300  feet  long,^  and  at  each  angle  it  was 
strengthened  by  bastions,  three  of  which  were  50 
cubits  in  height,  whilst  the  fourth,  that  at  the  south- 
eastern extremity,  was  higher  (70  cubits),  so  that  from 
it  the  Roman  sentinels  enjoyed  a  view  of  the  whole 
Temple  precincts.  At  the  corner  where  it  joined  the 
Temple,  continues  Josephus,  it  had  passages,  down 
which  on  the  Jewish  festivals  the  guard  could  go 
well  armed  right  into  the  sacred  enclosure,  and  so 
keep  an  eye  on  the  movements  of  the  people  lest  they 
should  attempt  any  innovation.  On  its  east,  north, 
and  west  sides  the  stronghold  was  encircled  by  a  moat, 
the  Struthion,  which  was  really  a  prolongation  of  the 
pools  outside.  It  could  only  be  approached  from  the 
south-west,  probably  by  a  drawbridge  giving  access 
to  the  open  space  between  the  city  walls  and  the 
Temple. 

Now  just  as  we  cannot  by  any  possibility  situate 
St.  John's  Lithostrotos  on  the  slippery,  slanting, 
marble  approaches  to   the  Antonia,  so  neither  can 

1  Fouardj  Vie  de  Jesus  Christ,  12th  ed.  vol.  ii.  p.  338,  note  2. 

2  Ollivier,  op.  cit.  p.  214. 


20       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

we  admit  that  his  allusion  is  to  the  open  space  just 
mentioned ;  for  certainly  the  door  of  the  judgment- 
hall  did  not  open  directly  on  to  this  place,  yet  in 
order  to  preserve  the  true  sense  of  the  words  used  by 
St.  John  the  judgment-hall  must  have  communicated 
directly  with  some  large  public  place,  otherwise  we 
cannot  explain  how  Pilate  repeatedly  went  and  came. 
Had  the  governor,  each  time  he  went  out,  to  traverse 
the  castle  court  and  the  postern  gate,  St.  John  could 
scarcely  have  avoided  making  some  allusion  to  the 
fortress. 

Nor  is  it  one  whit  better  to  say  that  the  Lithost7'otos 
was  the  inner  court  of  the  fortress,  and  that  the 
reddish  tiles  which  have  been  brought  to  light  in  the 
basement  of  the  convent  of  Sion  are  its  remains.  In 
the  first  instance,  an  ornamental  staircase  of  twenty- 
eight  steps  (the  Scala  Sancta  now  at  Rome)  would 
have  proved  an  incumbrance  in  such  a  court.  ^ 

Again  to  enter  the  inner  court,  the  Jews  would  have 
had  to  cross  the  threshold  of  the  building,  an  act  which 
would  have  made  them  as  unclean  ceremonially  as  if 
they  had  actually  entered  the  court  of  justice.  Yet 
again  the  governor  would  certainly  have  thought 
twice  before  allowing  the  Jews  to  enter  the  fortress, 
of  which  the  garrison — six  hundred  men  strong — 
would  easily  have  been  surprised  and  overcome  by 
a  crowd  numbering  probably  several  thousand.^ 

^  Zanecchia,  op.  rU.  vol.  i.  pp.  S\:5-'.V\^6;  Ollivier,  op.  cil.  pp.  217- 
219.  [There  is,  however,  as  Mgr.  Ward  remarks  in  T/ie  Edinundian 
(Supplement,  July  1904,  p.  29),  "  considerable  reason  for  doubting 
that  the  Scala  Saticta  is  what  it  professes  to  be.  No  mention  of 
it  can  be  found  before  the  fifteenth  century." — 7'ro«.v.] 

-  At  Jerusalem  there  was  only  one  cohort.  A  cohort  consisted  of 
three  maniples,  and  a  maniple  comprised  two  hundred  men  and  two 
centurions.  We  must  make  allowance  too  for  a  certain  number  of 
sick  and  non-combatants. 


THE   VIA   DOLOROSA  21 

Struck  by  these  difficulties,  Friedlieb^  suggested 
that  Pilate,  when  at  Jerusalem,  lived  in  one  of  Herod's 
palaces  not  far  from  the  Antonia ;  in  this  Friedlieb 
adopts  an  opinion  which  was  common  from  the  time 
of  the  Crusades  to  the  Renaissance.  An  Assump- 
tionist "  writes  as  follows  : — "  From  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  century  a  persistent  tradition  located  Pilate's 
preetorium  near  the  Antonia,  on  Bezetha ;  but  at 
first,  it  did  not  identify  the  prastorium  with  the  still 
visible  ^  ruins  of  the  celebrated  castle,  but  preferred 
to  locate  the  prsetorium  and  the  Antonia  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  road/  As  late  as  1584-  Adrichomius 
still  believed  that  the  pr£etorium  and  the  Antonia 
were  separate  buildings.  The  former  he  located 
north  of  the  Ecce  Homo  arch,  the  latter  south  of 
the  same  arch — i.e.  near  the  Temple.  Ultimately, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  two  were  identified, 
and  now  no  pilgrim  seeks  for  traces  of  the  prsetorium 
outside  of  the  area  now  belonging  to  the  Turkish 
barracks." 

Father  Zanecchia^  goes  still  further,  and  proves 
that  even  the  tradition  which  locates  the  preetorium 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Antonia  is  an  innovation, 
and  that  originally — i.e.  before  the  Crusades — the  tra- 
ditional site  of  the  praetorium  was  in  the  Tyropoeon 
valley,  below  the  Temple.  The  Bordeaux  pilgrim 
visited  Jerusalem  in  333.^     Starting  from  the  Ccena- 

^  Martin,  op.  cit.  p.  124, 

^  Huit  jours  a  Jerusalem,  p.  6l. 

3Q).  Theoderic,  1172. 

*  Cp.  some  of  the  good  MSS.  of  the  Estat  de  la  cites  de  Jherusalem, 
1187-1261.  Marino  Sanuto,  1309-1320;  d'Anglure,  1395;  and  an 
anonymous  work  of  1480  pubhshed  by  Schsefer. 

s  Op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  349. 

"  [See  in  L.  de  Combes  (De  Vinv.  a  V exalt,  p.  205/1)  how  some  of 
the  Fathers  condemned  pilgrimages  as  demoralising. — Trans. ^ 


22       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

culum  in  the  south  of  the  city  he  thus  describes  the 
respective  positions  of  the  judgment-hall  and  of 
Calvary :  "  From  thence  (the  Coenaculum)  whoso- 
ever proceeds  towards  the  Neapolitana  Gate  ^  per- 
ceives, on  his  right  hand,  at  the  bottom  of  the  valley, 
the  walls  of  the  house,  or  prsetorium,  of  Pontius 
Pilate,  where  our  Lord  was  questioned  before  He 
suffered ;  and  on  the  left  hand  Golgotha,  where  the 
Lord  was  crucified."^ 

Father  Zanecchia  who,  with  this  text  in  his  hand, 
has  observed  the  locality,  thus  sets  his  view  on 
record  ^ :  "  We  may  infer  from  this  precious  testi- 
mony that  in  333  there  existed  in  Jerusalem  a 
tradition  which  fixed  the  prjetorium  at  the  bottom 
of  the  valley.  It  therefore  was  neither  in  the 
Antonia,  nor  near  the  modern  Ecce  Homo  church, 
nor  near  the  chapel  which  now  commemorates  the 
scourging  at  the  pillar,  for  all  these  edifices  stand, 
not  in  the  valley,  but  on  the  brow  of  the  Moriah.  .  .  . 
The  same  pilgrim  attests  that  when  coming  down  from 
Sion  by  the  street  which  leads  to  the  Neapolitana — i.e. 
Nablus  or  Damascus  Gate — the  traveller  would  reach 
a  certain  spot  whence  he  could  perceive  on  the  right 
the  pnetorium  in  a  valley,  and  to  the  left  the  hill  of 
Calvary.  Now  if  we  follow  the  road  pointed  out, 
when  we  have  passed  the  Mooristan  we  find  Calvary 
[the  Holy  Sepulchre  Church]  to  the  left,  and,  to  the 

^  i.e.  the  Nablus  or  Damascus  Gate  in  the  north  of  the  city. 

2  Inde  .  .  .  eunti  ad  portam  neapoHtanam  ad  partem  dextram, 
deor.Kum  in  valle,  sunt  parietes  ubi  domus  fuit  sive  pretorium  Pontii 
Pilati.  Ibi  Dominus  auditus  est  antequam  pateretur.  A  sinistra 
autem  est  monticulus  Golgotha,  ubi  Dominus  crucifixus  est. 
Itinerarium  a  Biirdigaln  Hierusalcm  usque,  Tobler,  p.  18.  [For  a 
completely  different,  and  not  very  probable,  interpretation  of  this 
text,  see  Fergusson  op,  cit.  p.  92. — JVaraj.] 

3  Op.  cil.  vol.  i.  p.  351. 


THE    VIA   DOLOROSA  23 

right,   the    Mehkemeh    depression.      It   was   conse- 
quently here  that  Pilate  had  his  prastorium."  ^ 

Two  centuries  and  a  half  after  the  visit  of  the 
Bordeaux  pilgrim,  Antoninus  of  Piacenza-  writes 
as  follows : — "  We  prayed  in  the  prastorium  where 
the  Lord  was  questioned.  There  stands  the  basilica 
of  St.  Sophia  in  front  of  the  ruins  of  Solomon's 
Temple;  under  this  place  the  water  makes  its 
way  to  the  spring  of  Siloe,  near  Solomon's  porch. 
In  the  basilica  is  the  seat  on  which  Pilate  sat  when 
he  interrogated  the  Lord,  and  also  a  square  stone 
which  used  to  be  in  the  middle  of  the  prse- 
torium.  On  it  the  Lord  stood  whilst  being 
questioned  by  Pilate,  in  order  that  He  might  be 
heard  and  seen  by  all  the  people.^  This  stone  has 
preserved  the  print  of  His  feet."*  Antoninus  also 
found  here  something  still  more  valuable,  a  portrait 
of  Christ ;  but  instead  of  giving  us  a  detailed  de- 
scription of  this  unique  treasure,  he  contents  him- 
self with  the  baldest  possible  account  of  it :  "  The 
painting  depicts  a  man  with  a  fine  foot,  both  small 
and   narrow,  of  middle  height,  with  a  kindly  face 

^[i.e.  somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  present  seraglio. — 
Trans.^ 

2  Antoninus  Martyr  is  a  fictitious  personage.  The  writer  of  this 
itinerary  is  an  unknown  inhabitant  of  Piacenza.  See  Bellanger,  In 
Antonmi  Placentini  itinerariuni  grammatica  disquisitio.  Paris  :  Fonte- 
moing,  1902.  Paul  Lejay,  Revue  critique,  1904,  i.  p.  32.  [Author's 
rectification  in  list  of  errata,  printed  subsequently  to  his  second 
work  de  V invention  a  l' exaltation  de  la  Sainte  Croix,  Paris,  1903. — 
Trans.^ 

3  An  error,  as  the  people  did  not  enter  the  judgment-hall. 

^  Et  oravimus  in  pretorio  ubi  auditus  est  Dominus,  et  modo  est 
basilica  Sancte  Sophie.  Ante  ruinas  templi  Salomonis,  sub  platea, 
aqua  decurrit  ad  fontem  Siloam,  secus  porticum  Salomonis.  De 
Locis  Sanctis  quce perambulavit  Antoninus  Martyr,  xxiii. ;  Tobler,  op.  cit, 
p.  104. 


24       THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

and    curled  hair,  with  beautiful  hands   and  slender 
fingers."^ 

We  may  find  that  the  portrait  lacks  detail ;  but  the 
description  of  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,"  and  especially 
of  the  stream  which  runs  down  the  slope  towards  the 
pool  of  Siloe,  is  so  clear  as  to  enable  us  to  dispense 
entirely  with  the  other  arguments  adduced  by  Father 
Zanecchia  in  favour  of  the  view  which  locates  the 
praitorium  in  the  valley.  This  view  still  held  its  own 
after  the  Arab  invasion  of  Palestine.^  The  Bre- 
viarius  de  Hierosolyma  likewise  situates  the  prsetorium 
on  the  spot  occupied  by  the  basilica  of  St.  Sophia.^ 
Theodosius  excludes  the  claim  of  the  Antonia  by 
his  statement  that  only  100  paces  separate  the 
praitorium  from  the  palace  of  Caiphas.^  A  like  state- 
ment was  made  in  1106  by  the  Russian  abbot  Daniel, 
who  writes  thus :  "  Close  by  this  door  is  shown  the 
spot  where  St.  Helena  recognised  the  True  Cross, 
which  was  the  means  of  restoring  a  deceased  virgin 
to  life.  A  little  way  off,  towards  the  east,  is  the 
pra?torium  where  the  soldiers  led  Jesus  to  Pilate."''' 

1  Pedem  pulchrum,  modicum,  subtilem,  staturam  communem, 
faciem  pulchram,  capillos  subanellatos,  manum  formosam,  digitos 
longos  imago  designate  que^  illo  vivente,  picta  et  posita  est  in  ipso 
pretorio,  ibid.  [On  the  various  so-called  portraits  of  Christ  which 
were  current  in  early  ages,  see  L,  de  Combes,  De  I'inv.  a  I'exall. 

p.  181  ff.\ 

2  Zanecchia,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  353. 

3  F.  de  Mely,  la  Sainte  Lance,  has  proved  that  the  Brexnarius  de 
Hierosolyma  and  the  de  Terra  Sancta,  both  of  Theodosius,  belong 
not  to  A.D.  530,  as  Tobler  states,  but  to  a  period  subsequent  to 
the  Arab  invasion.     Revue  de  I' art  chrelien,  1897. 

4  Tobler,   op.  cit.  p.  59. 

^  De  domo  Caiphe  usque  ad  pretorium  Pilati  passus  numero  C. 
De  Terra  Sancta,  vii ;  Tobler  op.  cit.  p.  65. 

c  Itineraircs  russes  en  Orient,  French  trans,  by  Mme.  de  Khitrowo, 
Geneva  :    Fick,  1889,  p.  18. 


THE   VIA   DOLOROSA  25 

The  opinion  to  which  Zanecchia  came,  working  at 
the  convent  of  St.  Stephen,  was  favourably  received 
by  archaeologists,  and  was  adopted  also  in  the  neigh- 
bouring monastery  of  Notre-Dame-de-France.^  At 
the  present  day  no  Catholic  scholar  living  in  Jeru- 
salem hesitates  in  dismissing  the  view  that  Pilate's 
pra^torium  was  in  the  Antonia.^ 

We  may  mention  that  during  the  Crusades,  in  the 
twelfth  century,  yet  another  tradition  made  its  ap- 
pearance. It  is  now  impossible  to  say  on  what  data 
it  was  based,  but  one  thing  is  certain,  Fretellus, 
archdeacon  of  Toulouse  in  1148,  John  of  Wiirz- 
burg  in  1165,  Epiphanius  in  1170,  all  located  the 
praetorium  on  Sion,  near  David's  tower  or  the 
Hippicus.^  But  this  tradition  soon  fell,  and  in  the 
following  century.  Christians  having  been  banished 
from  the  city,  pilgrims,  left  to  their  own  fancies, 
gradually  came  to  posite  the  prsetorium  nearer  and 
nearer  the  Antonia  *  until  finally  the  two  sites  were 
confounded. 

From  the  bottom  of  the  valley  a  rugged  but  short 
street  led  to  the  Ephraim  Gate.  It  is  this  same 
street  which  is  associated  with  the  Via  Dolorosa  even 
by  modern  tradition.^     Concerning  the  right  position 

^  Huit  jours  a  Jerusalem,  p.  64. 

2  [That  the  above  reasons  have  not  sufficed  to  convert  all  is 
apparent  from  Coppens,  The  Palace  of  Caiphas.  English  translation 
by  Egan.     London  :  Burns  &  Gates,  1904,  p.  52  jf. — Trans.] 

^  Huit  jours,  p.  64 ;  Martin,  op.  cit.  Appendix  iii.  p.  239. 

*  See  the  old  French  Itineraires  a  Jerusalem  et  descriptions  tie  la 
Terre  Sainte  of  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries, 
edited  by  H,  Michelant  et  Gaston  Raynaud,  1882;  p.  49,  Ernoul 
(a.d.  1231),  Estat  de  la  citez  de  Jherusalem,  xxii.  p.  114,  P.  Mousket 
Description  rimee  des  Lieux  Saints,  verses  10648^  ;  and  the  anony- 
mous continuation  of  William  of  Tyre's  account,  xxii.  (a.d.  126i), 
p.  l6l. 

^  Didon,  Vie  de  Jesus,  vol.  ii.  pp.  355-356. 


26       THE    FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

of  the  first  seven  stations  of  the  Cross  there  is  no 
certainty  whatever.  At  the  Ephraim  Gate  (eighth 
station)  Christ  is  said  to  have  met  the  Daughters  of 
Jerusalem.^  A  few  paces  farther  ^  we  reach  Calvary. 
The  procession  to  the  place  of  execution  has  been 
admirably  depicted  by  Father  OUivier.  At  the  head 
of  the  band  marched  a  herald  sounding  his  trumpet 
and  proclaiming  the  guilt  of  the  condemned  ;  then 
came  the  centurion  who  was  charged  with  the  execu- 
tion, exactor  mortis  as  Tacitus  ^  describes  him.  This 
last  had,  so  far  as  we  know,  no  inkling  of  the  testi- 
mony he  was  so  soon  to  give  ^  to  the  Divinity  of  his 
prisoner,  nor  any  thought  that  he  was  later  on  to 
shed  his  blood  as  a  disciple  of  the  man  he  had  put 
to  death.  The  Church  keeps  his  feast  in  March.^ 
Tradition  assigns  to  him  the  name  of  Longinus, 
which  he  shares  in  common  with  the  soldier  who 
opened  Christ's  side  with  a  spear.  INIary  of  Agreda  ^ 
opined  that  his  name  was  really  Quintus  Cornelius. 
Possibly  he  may  be  the  real  Petronius,  whose  name 
has  been  preserved  by  the  very  ancient,  though 
apocryphal,   Gospel  of  St.  Peter. ^     The  trophies  of 

1  Lk.  xxiii.  28. 

2  [The  last  five  stations  are  within  the  Holy  Sepulchre  Church. 
— Trans. '^ 

3  Annals,  iii.  14. 

4  "This  man  was  indeed  the  Son  of  God" — Mk.  xv.  39; 
Mt.  xxvii.  54. 

^  Acta  SS.  l.Gth  March.  De  S.  Lonsino  milite  et  S.  Lonsmo 
centurione. 

c  [The  writer  of  the  Mystic  City  of  God.  She  died  in  1675. 
— Trans. ^ 

'  Translated  by  Jacquier,  Universite  catfiolique  de  Lyon,  1 893,  p.  1 1 . 
The  gospel  in  question  states  that  a  centurion,  Petronius,  was 
deputed  to  guard  the  sepulchre  (v,  31).  But  as  the  sepulchre  was 
sealed  by  the  Jews,  apparently  without  the  help  of  the  legionaries, 
it  seems  more  probable  that  Petronius  had  charge  of  the  execution. 


THE   VIA  DOLOROSA  27 

the  battalion  were  not,  as  was  elsewhere  usually  the 
case,  carried  in  the  procession ;  out  of  regard  for  the 
religious  scruples  of  the  Jews,  who  considered  them 
idolatrous,^  the  Roman  standards  were  never  displayed 
in  Jerusalem." 

Pilate's  rank  was  not  such  as  to  permit  him  the 
use  of  lictors ;  his  soldiers  had  to  act  as  execu- 
tioners.^ The  half  maniple,  which  served  in  the  case 
of  Christ,  must  have  belonged  to  the  twelfth  legion 
{duodecima  gemina),  which  was  then  garrisoned  at 
Csesarea,  and  which  was  later  on  to  become  the 
famous  Legio  fulminata,^  and  to  shed  its  blood  for 
the  sake  of  the  very  same  man  whom  it  had  been 
instrumental  in  crucifying.  The  soldiers  wore  the 
iron  breastplate  and  the  chestnut-coloured  tunic,  by 
which  they  were  easily  distinguishable  from  the 
Hebrews  in  their  white  woollen  clothing  and  dark 
cloaks.  At  the  heels  of  the  centurion  came  a  legionary 
bearing  on  a  pole  a  wooden  tablet,  with  the  cause  of 
the  sentence  inscribed  in  red  on  a  white  ground.^ 
Jesus  came  next;  His  purple  robe  had  been  re- 
moved,*^ and  He  wore  the  white  garment  presented 
Him  by  Herod,^  His  black  cloak  and  His  leathern 
girdle.^       The    crown    of    thorns    had   been    taken 

^  The  legions  woi'shipped  the  imperial  eagles  as  gods. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  II.  ix.  2. 

3  A  reason  given  by  Tertullian  why  Christians  should  not  be 
soldiers  (De  Corona  mil.  11). 

'*  [See  Allard,  English  trans.,  Ten  Lectures  on  the  Martyrs,  London  : 
Kegan  Paul,  p.  32. — TransJ\ 

^  Praecedente  titulo  qui  causam  poenae  indicavit.  Suetonius, 
Caligula,  32. 

6  Mt.  xxvii.  31. 

^  Lk.  xxiii.  11. 

8  This  leather  girdle  is  said  to  be  preserved  at  Aachen.  The 
ends  are  sealed  together  with  Constantine's  seal.  R.  de  Fleury, 
Memoire  sur  les  instruments  de  la  Passion,  p.  259t 


28       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

off,^  and  will  only  be  replaced  on  His  head  when  He  is 
being  fixed  to  the  cross.  Possibly  His  head  was 
covered  with  the  traditional  cap  and  kufieh '  to  ob- 
viate the  danger  of  sunstroke,  which  in  His  weak  state 
was  much  to  be  feared.  In  Veronica's  picture  He 
is  depicted  with  His  eyes  half  closed,  His  face  covered 
with  the  vile  spittle  of  the  Jews,  and  with  the  blood 
dripping  from  the  wounds  in  His  forehead  on  to  His 
seamless  coat.^ 

Simon  the  Cyrenean,  whose  aid  had  doubtless  been 
sought  after  Jesus'  first  fall,  carried  the  Cross  be- 
tween the  two  thieves,  who  having  been  less  hardly 
treated,  were  still  strong  enough  to  carry  theirs. 
The  centurion,  the  title-bearer,  Christ,  Simon,  and 
the  thieves  walked  between  two  files  of  legionaries, 
lance  on  shoulder,  whilst  the  rest  of  the  half  maniple 
brought  up  the  rear,  the  soldiers  marching  six  to 
the  rank.* 

The  Sanhedrists  too  occupied  their  official  positions. 
It  was  to  them  that  Pilate  had  delivered  Jesus ;  it 
was  they  who,  in  theory  at  least,  as  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Hebrew  judiciary,  were  leading  their 
victim  to  the  place  of  slaughter.^  They  were  there, 
writes  Father  Ollivier,  because  they  wished  to  enjoy 
their  triumph  to  the  fullest,  cantering  in  front  of  the 

^  According  to  the  picture  on  Veronica's  kerchief.  Ollivier, 
op.  cit.  pp.  356,  357.  [For  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Crown 
of  Thorns,  see  L.  de  Combes,  De  I'inv.  u  F exalt,  p.  138  ff'. — Trans.^ 

2  [A  kind  of  kerchief  worn  about  the  head  and  face  as  a  pro- 
tection against  the  sun,  dust,  and  flies. — Trans.'\ 

3  [The  Veronica  image  is  first  recorded  in  the  seventh  century. 
See  L.  de  Combes,  Dc  I'inv.  a  l' exalt,  pp.  1 85-1 8C.  The  name  Veronica 
seems  to  be  a  corruption  of  Berenice.      See  ibid.  p.  182. — Trans.^ 

4  Jos.  Wars,  III.  vi.  2;  V.  ii.  1. 

s  "  And  as  they  (the  Jews)  led  him  away  .  .  ," — Lk.  xxiii.  26. 
"  And  they  (the  Jews)  took  Jesus  and  led  him  forth  " — Jn.  xix. 
16. 


THE   VIA    DOLOROSA  29 

people  on  their  richly  comparisoned  white  mules,^ 
seeking  and  enjoying  the  acclamations  of  the  populace. 
In  her  vision  Sister  Emmerich  thought  she  could 
descry  them  following  close  in  the  wake  of  the 
soldiers.  Lastly  came  the  rabble—  a  great  multitude 
of  people^ — such  a  one  as  can  always  be  brought 
together  by  the  tramp  of  soldiers  marching  through 
a  town. 

From  the  Ephraim  Gate  to  the  Porta  Antiqua, 
respectively  the  southern  and  northern  extremities 
of  the  Holy  Places,  the  distance  was  about  150 
yards.  The  procession  having  passed  through  the 
Ephraim  Gate  proceeded  northward.  On  their 
right  there  was  the  broad  moat,  and  the  city  walls 
rising  25  cubits,  whilst  on  their  left  Calvary  rose 
some  15  feet  above  them.^  After  having  passed  the 
opening  of  the  great  cistern,  which  was  soon  to  be- 
come the  depository  of  the  True  Cross,  the  procession, 
according  to  a  very  recent  tradition,  made  a  first  stop. 
Here,  it  is  said,Christ  again  began  to  carry  His  cross. 
In  1395  a  stone  was  pointed  out  to  Baron  d'Anglure 
as  marking  the  exact  spot  where  Simon  laid  down 
his  load.*  A  few  paces  farther  on  they  came  to  the 
northernmost  extremity  of  the  escarpment ;  here  they 
turned  to  the  left,  and  halted  whilst  the  soldiers  made 
ready  for  the  execution.  Near  by  there  was  a  vaulted 
chamber,^  and  in  it  Jesus  and  the  thieves  were  in- 

1  The  mule  is,  in  the  East,  an  animal  reserved  for  great  men, 
whether  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  Ollivier,  op.  cit.  pp.  347,  348  ; 
2  Kings  xviii.  9  ;  3  Kings  i.  33,  etc. 

2  Lk.  xxiii.  27. 

^  See  the  section  of  Calvary  in  Rohault  de  Fleury,  o/j.  cit.  p.  285. 
[See  a  slightly  different  pictorial  reconstruction  of  the  site  in  La 
Palestine,  guide  historiqiie  et  pratique,  Paris,  1904,  p.  67. — Trans.^ 

4  Ollivier,  op.  cit.  p.  370,  note  2. 
Guerin,  Jerusalem,  p.  139. 


30       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

terned.  The  Ambassador  Deshaye  thus  describes  it 
in  his  report  to  Louis  XIII.  ^ :  "  Continuing  our 
stroll  round  the  Holy  Sepulchre  Church  we  found 
a  little  vaulted  chapel,  seven  feet  long  by  six  feet 
wide,  which  is  sometimes  called  the  Prison  of  Christ, 
because  He  was  put  into  it  whilst  waiting  for  a  hole 
to  be  made  in  which  the  foot  of  the  cross  might 
be  put.^  This  chapel  is  exactly  opposite  Calvary, 
so  that  the  two  places  form,  as  it  were,  the  transept 
of  the  church,  the  Mount  being  to  the  south  and 
the  chapel  to  the  north."  ^ 

At  last  the  fatal  moment  came,  and  Christ  was 
drawn  out  of  His  dungeon,  stripped  of  His  vesture, 
crowned  with  thorns,  and  again  made  to  carry  His 
cross.  The  procession  now  entered  the  little  ravine — 
which  was  Joseph  of  Arimath^ea's  garden,  and  lay 
between  the  two  horns  of  the  JNIount — and  marching 
southward,  it  ascended  Golgotha. 

M.  Rohault  de  Fleury,*  making  use  of  information 
which  he  had  obtained  from  Father  Hornung,  a  priest 
of  Notre-Dame  de  Sion,'^  thus  describes  the  road 
followed  :  "  On  arriving  at  the  foot  of  Calvary  a  turn 
was  made  in  the  north,  and  then  another  to  the 
west ;  then  by  proceeding  southward  they  reached 
the  spot  which  is  now  the  entrance  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  Church,  which,  in  order  doubtless  to  ac- 
commodate itself  to  a  tradition,  occupies  the  exact 

1  This  report  is  reprinted  in  Chateaubriand's  famous  Itineraire  de 
Paris  a.  Jcrusalcvi. 

^  We  have  already  stated  that  in  our  opinion  the  hole  was 
permanent. 

3  [This  chapel  still  exists  in  the  Holy  Sepulchre  Church ;  it, 
however,  receives  little  notice  from  the  Latins. —  Traiis.] 

4  Mem.  pp.  28.5,  286. 

''  Conveyed  in  a  letter  dated  7th  February  1 867,  and  printed  in 
de  Fleury's  Mem.,  p.  341. 


THE   VIA  DOLOROSA  31 

position  where  the  procession  stood  on  reaching  the 
top  of  Calvary.  The  crosses  were  no  doubt  laid  on 
the  ground,  with  their  heads  pointing  to  the  south, 
so  that  they  might  be  erected  at  the  very  edge 
of  the  cliff.  In  this  position  they  would  be  easily 
seen  from  below,  for  though  of  no  great  length, 
they  were  far  above  the  level  of  the  ground 
below." 

This  little  reconstruction  of  the  scene  is  historically 
highly  probable,  but  we  freely  concede  that  several 
points  are  not  absolutely  certain ;  some,  in  fact,  have 
been  very  acutely  criticised.  Thus  many  fair-minded 
archaeologists  consider  the  Prison  of  Christ  to  be 
fictitious.  However  this  may  be,  three  localisations 
seem  well-grounded — that  of  Calvary,  that  of  the 
sepulchre,  and  that  of  the  cistern  of  the  crosses. 
Taking  into  consideration  the  old  conformation  of 
the  ground  surface  and  the  topography  of  Golgotha, 
the  route  which  we  have  sketched  must  necessarily 
have  been  followed.^ 

1  As  a  curiosity,  see  the  narrative  of  Catherine  Emmerich,  The 
Dolorous  Passion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  London  :  Burns  &  Oates, 
1896.  The  soldiers  who  had  crucified  Christ  and  the  thieves  are 
supposed  to  have  been  replaced  by  a  fresh  troop  of  fifty  men. 
"  These  were  under  the  command  of  Abenadar,  an  Arab  by  birth, 
baptised  by  the  name  of  Ctesiphon.  The  second  officer  was  called 
Cassius,  and  afterwards  received  the  name  of  Longinus.  He  fre- 
quently acted  as  messenger  to  Pilate."  These  details  would  have 
merely  the  value  of  any  other  vision  were  it  not  for  one  remarkable 
point.  In  1595  there  was  discovered  at  Granada  an  assortment 
of  relics,  manuscripts,  and  leaden  tablets,  in  which  it  was  possible 
to  read  the  names  of  Ctesiphon  and  Hiscius,  disciples  of  James 
the  Greater.  The  tablets  stated  that  Ctesiphon  had  been  called 
Abenadar  before  his  conversion,  and  that  he  had  written  a  book  in 
Arabic.  See  the  French  translation  of  Catherine  Emmerich,  ed. 
Retaux,  p.  272,  note.  Our  readers  may  accept  what  they  please 
in  these  documents,  which,  of  course,  have  no  pretence  of  being 
historical. 


32       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 


3.    THE    HOLY   SEPULCHRE 

"  Now  there  was  in  the  place,  where  he  was  cruci- 
fied, a  garden ;  and  in  the  garden  a  new  sepulchre 
wherein  no  man  as  yet  had  been  laid."  ^  This  garden 
was  the  property  of  Joseph,  a  native  of  Arimathiea, 
a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim,  and  a  secret  follower  of 
Christ ;  ^  a  man  apparently  held  in  universal  esteem 
on  account  of  his  kindness  and  the  righteousness 
of  his  life.^  From  the  Gospel's  description  of  the 
place  it  would  seem  that  Joseph's  property  covered 
the  western  side  of  Calvary,  and  that  its  palms 
and  olive-trees,  its  patches  of  flowering  plants  and 
sweet  herbs,  reached  the  very  top  of  the  Mount. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  declivity,  hidden  in  the  shrub- 
bery, was  the  tomb  hewn  in  the  rock,  at  a  distance 
of  about  150  feet  from  the  spot  where  the  cross 
had  been  erected.*  Thither  Joseph,  Nicodemus,  and 
the  disciples  carried  the  body  of  Christ  after  having 
embalmed  it.  "The  tomb  itself,"  writes  Father 
Didon,^  "  comprised  a  double  grotto ;  in  the  first,  a 
kind  of  ante-chamber  or  mortuary  chapel,  the  relatives 
could  come  to  weep  for  the  departed ;  in  the  second, 
or  inner  chamber,  was  laid  the  corpse.  The  tomb, 
properly  so  called,  was  a  slightly  hollowed-out  bench 
of  stone  covered  by  a  kind  of  vault  or  arcosolium." 
That  the  tomb  was  a  double  one  of  this  kind  is 
averred  by  Cyril,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  whom  we  may 

^  Jn.  xix.  41. 

2  "A  disciple  of  Jesus,  but  secretly  for  fear  of  the  Jews" — 
Jn.  xix.  38. 

^  "  A  counsellor,  a  good  and  just  man  " — Lk.  xxiii.  ~>0. 

^  R.  de  Fleury,  op.  cii.  p.  286. 

''  Fie  de  Jesus,  vol.  ii.  p.  348  ;  Zanecchia,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  280 ; 
Guerinj  Jerusalem,  p.  1 20. 


THE   HOLY   SEPULCHRE  33 

reckon  as  a  contemporary  of  the  finding  of  the  Holy 
Places,  since  he  must  have  been  already  a  youth  in 
327.^  Renan  is  therefore  wrong  in  denying  the  exist- 
ence of  an  ante-chamber. 

Both  grottoes  were  excavated  in  the  side  of  the 
hill,  and  were  accessible  from  the  level  of  the  vale. 
The  sepulchre  proper — i.e.  the  inner  cave — measures 
about  six  feet  by  five ;  but  it  can  hold  only  three  or 
four  people  on  account  of  the  cenotaph  which  occu- 
pies, on  the  right-hand  side,  nearly  the  whole  length 
of  the  cave.^  It  was  commonly  thought  that  the 
actual  tomb  consisted  of  a  solid  block  of  stone,  on 
which  our  Saviour's  body  was  laid.  M.  Guerin,  how- 
ever, had  some  doubt  on  the  point,  suggested  by  his 
knowledge  that  the  Jews  regularly  either  enclosed 
their  dead  in  loculi  in  the  walls  of  their  rock-hewn 
tombs,^  or  in  stone  coffins  or  sarcophagi.  Never  had 
he  found  an  instance  in  which  the  corpse  was  un- 
covered and  visible.*  His  suspicion  turned  out  to  be 
well  founded,  and  he  was  able  to  verify  its  correct- 

*  Speluncara  petrae  dicit,  earn  quae  tunc  fuit  ante  Salvatoris 
monumenti  ostium  speluncam ;  ex  eadem  petra,  sicut  hie  in  foribus 
monumentorum  fieri  solet,  excisam.  Cat.  ix.  De  Christi  Resurrec- 
tione ;  P.O.  xxxiii.  col.  834.  [The  whole  passage  should  be  read. 
Cyril  states  that  in  his  day  the  ante-chamber  had  already  dis- 
appeared, having  been  destroyed  in  the  building  operations.  Yet 
the  sepulchre  now  shown  at  Jerusalem  has  an  ante-chamber. — 
Trans. 1^ 

2  Zanecchia,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  282.  [See,  however,  Fergusson,  op. 
cit.  p.  152.  If  Adamnanus  be  right  in  his  statement,  Libelhis  de 
locis  saiidis,  that  the  sepulchre  could  hold  "thrice  three  men," 
it  may  pertinently  be  asked  whether  his  description  is  applicable 
to  the  present  sepulchre.  Fergusson  points  out  that  it  would 
apply  much  more  aptly  to  the  cave  in  the  Sakhra  rock  under  the 
dome  of  the  Omar  Mosque. — Trans.^ 

^  [i.e.  as  in  the  Roman  Catacombs. — Trails.^ 

*  Jerusalem,  p.  147. 

C 


U       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

ness  by  a  letter  of  Boniface  of  Ragusa,  a  sixteenth- 
century  custodian  of  the  basilica,'^  and  which  is  printed 
among  the  works  of  Quaresmius.-  Boniface,  having 
once  been  obhged  to  strip  the  tomb  of  the  alabaster 
slabs  with  which  it  had  been  encrusted  by  St.  Helena 
in  order  to  transform  it  into  an  altar,  had  made  the 
discovery  that  the  tomb  was  not  solid,  but  hollow 
like  a  coffin.^  On  its  sides  he  saw  abundant  and 
indubitable  traces  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  of  the 
spices,  and  of  the  hundred  pounds  of  myrrh  and  aloes 
brought  by  Nicodemus.^  From  the  bottom  of  the 
sarcophagus  he  also  took  out  a  piece  of  the  true  cross, 
covered  with  some  precious  material,  which,  however, 
fell  to  pieces  in  his  hand,  leaving  only  a  few  golden 
threads.^ 

We  know,  from  the  stone  at  the  "  Tombs  of  the 
Kings "  to  the  north-west  of  Jerusalem,  how  the 
funeral  chambers  of  the  Jews  were  closed.  "  Its 
form,"  says  the  Abbd  Vigouroux,^  "  is  that  of  a  mill- 
stone, and  it  is  moved  by  being  rolled.  To  close  the 
tomb  the  stone  is  pushed  along  a  groove  cut  in  the 

1  This  friar  afterwards  became  Bishop  of  Stagno ;  he  died  in 
1581. 

2  Eliicidatio  Terrce  Sandce  (Antwerpise,  l639),  V.  xiii. 

3  Cum  lamina  una  albatri  ex  iis  quibus  sepulcrum  operiebatur  et 
quas  Helena  Sancta  ibi  collocaverat,  ut  super  iis  sacrosanctum  missa 
mysterium  celebraretur,  necessitate  urgente  commovenda  esset, 
aparuit  nobis  apertus  locus  ille  ineffabilis  in  quo  triduo  filius  hominis 
requievit. 

*  Erat  locus  sacrosancto  Domini  Jesu  cruore,  unguento  illo,  quo 
ad  sepulturam  unctus  fuerat  permixto.  .  .   . 

'^  In  medio  sacrosancti  loci  lignum  reperimus  collocatum  ac 
sudario  pretioso  involutum,  quod  cum  in  manus  reverenter  suscepis- 
semus  deosculatique  fuissemus,  ubi  primum  illud  aeri  expositum 
est,  inter  manus  nostras  sudarium  in  nihilum  abiit,  nonnullis  aureis 
filis  ex  illo  solum  manentibus. 

^  Lc  Nouveau  Testament  et  les  decouvertes  modemes,  p.  1 79- 


THE    HOLY   SEPULCHRE  35 

rock  outside  the  tomb,  in  which  it  runs  as  on  rails, 
and  which  is  sufficiently  long  to  allow  of  the  entrance 
being  completely  uncovered."  Such  must  have  been 
the  stone  on  which  the  angel  sat,  and  which  served  as 
a  door  to  the  sepulchre  of  Joseph  of  Arimathaea.  It 
was  in  the  form  of  a  millstone,  if  we  may  trust 
Antoninus  of  Piacenza,  who  saw  it  in  570/  Judging 
by  the  remains  of  similar  stones,  it  must  have  been 
about  five  feet  in  diameter  and  about  a  foot  thick.' 
But  I  am  informed  that  of  the  actual  stone  only  a 
small  piece  survives.  The  Angel's  Stone  at  the  so- 
called  palace  of  Caiphas  agrees  indeed  with  the 
measurements  just  given,  but  it  is  highly  probable 
that,  if  it  be  a  relic  at  all,  it  is  a  rock  taken  from  the 
spot  of  St.  Stephen's  martyrdom.^  The  Synoptic 
Gospels  confirm  this  description  of  the  stone.  Ac- 
cording to  St.  Matthew,  when  the  Holy  Women 
reached  the  sepulchre  "an  angel  of  the  Lord 
descended  from  heaven,  and  coming,  rolled  back 
the  stone,  and  sat  on  it."*  According  to  St.  Mark 
the  women  said  one  to  another :  "  Who  shall  roll  us 
back  the  stone  from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  ? "  ^ ; 
whilst  St.  Luke  states  that :  "  They  found  the  stone 
rolled  back  from  the  sepulchre."'^ 

Lastly,  St.  Matthew  says  of  Joseph  of  Arimatheea 
that :  "  He  rolled  a  great  stone  to  the  door  of  the 
monument,  and  went  his  way."^ 

Twenty-five  or  thirty  paces  froin  the  sepulchre, 
towards  the  north,  there  is  a  much-revered  spot  of 

1  Petra  vero  monumenti  veluti  molaris.  De  locis  sandis,  1 8 ; 
Tobler,  op.  cit.  p.  101. 

-  Zanecchia,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  281. 

^  [See  La  Palestine,  guide  historique  et  pratique  (a  work  of  the 
Assumptionists),  Paris,  1904,  pp.  138-139. — Trans.^^ 

*  Mt.  xxviii.  2.  ^  Mk.  xvi.  3. 

6  Lk.  xxiv.  2.  7  Mt.  xxvii.  60. 


36       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

which  the  Gospels  say  nothing.  "  Some  distance 
beyond  the  place  where  Christ  appeared  to  JNlagdalen," 
says  Deshaye,^  "  is  shown  the  spot  where  Christ  ap- 
peared first  to  His  mother."^  Christ,  who  shared  the 
fulness  of  human  feelings,  would  naturally  manifest 
Himself  in  the  first  instance  to  His  blessed  mother. 
Catherine  Emmerich,^  whom  we  may  quote,  now  that 
we  are  not  concerned  with  a  question  of  history,  gives 
a  striking  account  of  this  episode.  She  sees  an  angel 
coming  down  to  the  Cwnaculum.  The  Blessed  Virgin 
on  receiving  his  message  springs  up  (it  was  nine  o'clock 
on  the  Sabbath  evening),  she  throws  her  cloak  about 
her,  and  hastens  to  Joseph's  garden  by  way  of  the  Porta 
Antiqua.  There  she  follows  a  path  now  indicated  by 
a  series  of  chapels ;  she  passes  the  Prison  of  Christ, 
and  directs  her  steps  towards  the  sepulchre,  but  is 
deterred  by  the  sight  of  the  sentinels,  who  are  sleeping 
cosily  rolled  up  in  their  capes.  She  hesitates,  and  falls 
back  slightly  to  the  north.  Then  the  visionary  sees  a 
light  in  the  east ;  it  is  the  Saviour  coming  in  glory 
from  Limbo,  followed  by  the  patriarchs  and  the  just 
of  the  olden  Law.  The  heavenly  procession  descends 
to  earth  near  Mary,  and  without  touching  the  ground 
Jesus  comes  to  kiss  the  forehead  of  His  mother,  whilst 
all  about  the  patriarchs  are  singing  the  praises  of  the 
mother  of  their  God.  Then  the  vision  fades,*  and 
Mary  knows  not  whether  it  was  dream  or  reality,  but 
imbued  with  a  wonderful  feeling  of  peace,  she  returns 

1  See  Chateaubriand's  Ilineraire  in  the  Pantheon  Utlerairc  edition 
vol.  ii.  p.  o^'S. 

-  Guerin,  op.  cit.  p.  336 ;  Zanecchia,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  283. 

'  The  Dolorous  Passion,  English  trans.,  p.  330  f. 

^  It  is  noteworthy  that  according  to  this  tradition  Christ  must 
have  re-entered  Limbo,  since  the  next  day  He  said  to  Mary 
Magdalen:  "I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  my  Father" — Jn.  xx. 
17. 


THE   HOLY   SEPULCHRE  37 

to  the  Ccenaculum,  where  the  Holy  Women  are  getting 
ready  their  ointments  and  spices. 

And  indeed,  if  events  did  not  follow  in  the  order 
we  have  given,  how  can  we  explain  why  Mary,  the 
mother  of  Jesus,  did  not  follow  Mary  Magdalen, 
Mary  the  mother  of  James,  and  Salome,  to  the  tomb 
on  the  Sunday  morning?  Probably  she  watched 
their  departure  with  a  smile :  she  knew  that  it  was 
useless  to  seek  among  the  dead  for  one  who  was  now 
again  alive/ 

The  next  day  at  about  the  dawn  the  Holy  Women 
came  to  Calvary  loaded  with  spices.  Their  one 
thought  was  how  to  circumvent  the  sentinels ;  how 
to  open  the  tomb  which  had  been  sealed  by  the  chief 
priests.  Then  suddenly  there  came  the  earthquake, 
and  an  angel  brilliant  with  light  and  dressed  in  white 
drops  from  heaven,  rolls  away  the  stone,  and  takes  his 
seat  on  it.  The  Temple  soldiers  are  scared,  and  put 
to  flight ;  the  tomb  is  empty,  and  Christ  has  risen. 
Peter  and  John  on  receiving  news  of  the  event  run 
to  the  garden,  and  Magdalen  at  a  distance  follows 
them,  muttering  that  someone  must  have  stolen  the 
body  of  her  Lord.  She  approached  the  sepulchre,  and 
peeping  in,  saw  two  angels,  who  said  to  her : 

"  Woman^  why  weepest  thou  ?  She  saith  to  them,  Because  they 
have  taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have  laid 
him.  And  when  she  had  said  this  she  turned  herself  back  and 
saw  Jesus  standing,  and  she  knew  not  that  it  was  Jesus.  Jesus 
said  to  her.  Woman,  why  weepest  thou }  Whom  seekest  thou  ? 
She,  thinking  it  was  the  gardener,  saith  to  him,  Sir,  if  thou  hast 
taken  him  hence  tell  me  where  thou  hast  laid  him,  and  I  will  take 
him  away.  Jesus  saith  to  her :  Mary,  She  turning  saith  to  him  : 
Rabboni  (which  is  to  say,  Master).  Jesus  saith  to  her  :  Do  not 
touch  me,  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  my  Father."  - 

This  scene,  one  of  the  most  touching  of  all  the 

1  Lk.  xxiv.  5.  2  jn,  xx.  13-17. 


38       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Gospel-scenes,  took  place  near  the  stone  which  had 
been  rolled  away — Deshaye  says  about  twelve  paces 
to  the  north.  The  actual  spot  is  a  matter  of  doubt, 
but  at  any  rate  it  was  somewhere  in  the  garden. 

It  was  long  implicitly  believed  that  the  last  scene 
of  this  little  drama  was  to  be  located  in  France.  The 
story  was  that  Magdalen  crossed  the  seas,  and  settled 
in  Provence.  When  in  modern  times  her  reputed 
coffin  was  opened,  people  were  surprised  to  find  on 
her  skull,  on  the  left  temple,  a  piece  of  fresh  trans- 
parent flesh.  The  event  was  duly  recorded  by  an 
official  deputation  of  the  city  of  Aix,  consisting  of  the 
president,  an  attorney-general,  and  two  councillors.^ 
It  was  inferred  that  when  our  I^ord  said  to  Mary 
"  do  not  touch  me,"  He  Himself  touched  her  with 
His  right  hand,  and  that  the  spot  which  He  touched 
became  forthwith  incorruptible.  Hence  it  was  named 
the  Noli  me  t anger e,  the  Touch-me-not.  "  This 
fragment  of  flesh,"  says  Father  Ollivier,  '*  came  away 
from  the  skull  in  1780.  Since  that  time  it  has  been 
religiously  preserved  in  a  crystal  vase  on  the  altar  of 
the  crypt  of  the  Holy  Oil."  '  Since  then,  however,  an 
eminent  ecclesiastical  historian,  Mgr.  Duchesne,  has 
come  on  the  scene,  and  one  of  the  results  of  his  pains- 
taking labours  has  been  to  throw  grave  doubt  on  a 
matter  which  once  seemed  above  suspicion.  Alas 
that  the  pretty  flowers  of  vernal  faith  should  be  dried 
up  by  the  summer  sun  of  science  ! 

*  Lacordaire,  S.  Marie-Madeleine,  2nd  ed.  pp.  199-201. 
2  Les  Amities  de  Jesus,  p.  301,  note  1. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   HIDING   OF  THE   CROSS   AND   OF  THE   TOMB 

There  is  something  surprising  in  the  indifference 
shown  by  ancient  writers  as  to  what  became  of  the 
instruments  of  the  Passion  after  Christ  was  taken 
down  from  the  Cross  ;  still  more  surprising  is  the  in- 
difference shown  by  modern  historians.  However, 
quite  early,  there  were  various  stories  afloat,  and  the 
few  who  were  inquisitive  enough  to  concern  them- 
selves with  such  questions  seem  to  have  hesitated 
between  one  or  other  of  two  opinions.  Thus  both 
Eusebius  and  Constantine  were  persuaded  that  the 
True  Cross  had  been  buried  by  the  Christians  to  pre- 
serve it  from  profanation  ;  on  the  other  hand,  Paulinus 
of  Nola,  who  was  beholden  for  his  information  to 
Rufinus  and  Melania,  was  convinced  that  it  had  been 
hidden  by  the  Jews.  Then  the  curtain  of  silence 
again  fell  on  the  subject,  and  it  was  soon  altogether 
forgotten. 

Gretser,  of  all  modern  historians,  was  the  first  to 
examine  the  matter,^  casting  his  vote  for  the  second 
opinion  ;  he  was  followed  by  Rohault  de  Fleury."  M. 
Amedee  Thierry  speaks  ^  "  of  the  cistern  into  which 
the  Jews  had  hurriedly  thrown  the  cross  at  the 
approach  of  the  Sabbath."  Sister  Emmerich,^  speaking 

1  De  Cruce  Christi,  vol.  i.  p.  63. 

2  Mem. 

3  S.  Jerome,  4th  ed.  p.  198. 

4  The  Dolorous  Passioji  (in  French  trans.^  Retaux,  1899)^  chap, 
liii.  p.  319.  [The  equivalent  to  this  passage  is  not  to  be  found  in 
the  English  translation. — Trans.^ 

39 


40       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

as  one  who  intuitively  saw  into  the  past,  says :  "  As 
the  Blessed  Virgin  and  her  friends  were  returning 
from  Calvary,  whither  they  again  proceeded  to  weep 
and  pray,  they  saw  coming  towards  them  a  band  of 
soldiers  escorted  by  torchbearers,  and  to  make  them 
room  they  scattered  to  right  and  left  until  the  last  of 
the  soldiers  had  passed.  These  men  were  on  their 
way  to  Calvary,  doubtless  in  order  to  take  down  the 
crosses  and  bury  them  before  the  Sabbath."  No 
historian  could  depict  the  probabilities  of  the  scene 
better  than  this  visionary. 

1.    THE   BURIAL   OF   THE   CROSS 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  the  northern 
suburbs  of  Jerusalem  were  well  cultivated  and  densely 
peopled.  Five  centuries  of  unceasing  labour  had 
made  the  soil  fertile ;  everywhere  there  were  groves 
of  olive-trees,  fig-trees,  and  vines,  which  furnished  the 
theme  for  several  of  Christ's  parables.  Speaking  of 
the  reconnoissance  made  by  Titus  before  opening  the 
war  of  A.D.  70,  Josephus  states  that  hedges  and  ditches 
and  garden  walls  reached  to  the  very  ramparts  of  the 
city.^  In  Jerusalem  there  was  only  one  spring,  that 
of  Siloe  ;  but  the  toil  of  the  inhabitants  had  made  up 
for  the  natural  scarcity  by  digging  under  the  slopes 
of  Gareb,  and  in  the  valleys  of  Hinnom  and  of  the 
Cedron,  great  cisterns  to  preserve  the  rain-water.^ 
Besides  these  great  tanks  there  were  other  excavations 
to  be  found  under  the  rocks  on  which  the  wall  of 
Ezechias  was  grounded.  One  of  these,  '*  at  about  the 
flight  of  an  arrow  from  the  ramparts,"  was  so  large  as 

1  Jos.  Wars,  V.  iii.  2  ;  vi.  2  ;  VI.  i.  1. 

2  Fons  perennis  aquse,  cavati  sub  terra  montes  et  piscina?  cistern- 
aeque  servandis  imbribus.     Tacitus,  Htstorice,  V. 


THE   BURIAL   OF   THE   CROSS         41 

to  have  been  used  by  the  Persians  in  614  as  a  prison 
for  their  captives.^  Another  such  cavern,  smaller  than 
the  previous  one,  but  nevertheless  very  large,  had  its 
opening  at  the  foot  of  Calvary,  and  extended  beneath 
the  walls  some  distance  under  the  city.  This  was  the 
cavern  of  which  the  Jews  made  use  on  the  night  of 
the  first  Good  Friday. 

The  distance  between  Golgotha,  the  sepulchre, 
and  the  hole  into  which  the  crosses  were  thrown  was 
slight.  Christ's  death,  though  it  had  been  decreed 
by  Hebrew  magistrates,  had  received  the  approval 
of  Pilate,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  execution  was 
carried  out  in  accordance  with  Roman  custom.  Only 
after  the  death  of  Christ  do  we  find  again  the  ob- 
servance of  Jewish  usages  in  the  burial  of  the  sacred 
body  ^  and  in  the  hiding  of  the  instruments  of  death. 

As  a  general  rule,  the  Romans  crucified,  whereas 
the  Jews  stoned,  their  malefactors.  It  must  not, 
however,  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  Jews  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  cross  as  a  punishment.  When 
David  delivered  to  the  Gabaonites  seven  descendants 
of  Saul  in  order  to  make  an  end  to  the  famine  which 
was  wasting  Judea,  he  took 

"the  two  sons  of  Respha  the  daughter  of  Aia  whom  she  bore  to 
Saul,  Armoni  and  Mephiboseth  ;  and  the  five  sons  of  Michol  the 
daughter  of  Saul,  whom  she  bore  to  Hadriel  the  son  of  Berzellai 
that  was  of  Molathi  and  he  gave  them  into  the  hands  of  the 
Gabaonites ;  and  they  crucified  them  on  a  hill  before  the  Lord  ; 
and  these  seven  died  together  in  the  first  days  of  the  harvest, 
when  the  barley  began  to  be  reaped.  And  Respha  the  daughter 
of  Aia  took  hair-cloth  and  spread  it  under  her  upon  the  rock  from 
the  beginning  of  the  harvest  till  water  dropped  upon  them  out  of 

^  See  the  narrative  of  an  anonymous  monk  of  St.  Saba's,  translated 
from  Arabic  into  French  in  Couret's  la  prise  de  Jerusalem  par  les 
Perses  en  6l4.     Orleans:  Herluison,  1896. 

2  "  As  the  manner  of  the  Jews  is  to  bury  " — Jn.  xix.  40. 


42       THE    FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

heaven,  and  suffered  neither  the  birds  to  tear  them  by  day,  nor  the 
beasts  by  night."  ^ 

But  the  Jews  had  a  different  method.  They  some- 
times used  a  cross  to  hang  the  dead  bodies  of  notorious 
criminals,"  as  a  gamekeeper  would  use  a  "gibbet." 
But  the  word  "cross"  seems  to  have  been  almost 
unknown  to  them ;  they  preferred  to  speak  of  the 
"  wood,"  the  "  tree."     In  Deuteronomy  we  read  :  ^ 

"  When  a  man  hath  committed  a  crime  for  which  he  is  to  be 
punished  with  death,  and  being  condemned  to  die  is  hanged  on  a 
gibbet ;  his  body  shall  not  remain  upon  the  tree  but  shall  be  buried 
the  same  day  ;  for  he  is  accursed  of  God  that  hangeth  on  a  tree, 
and  thou  shalt  not  defile  thy  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall 
give  thee  in  possession."  * 

In  order  that  the  land  might  not  be  rendered  un- 
clean, both  the  coi-pse  and  the  instrument  of  death 
were  buried  in  the  night  subsequent  to  the  execution.^ 

The  Romans,  on  the  contrary,  attached  the  con- 
demned man,  whilst  yet  alive,  to  the  cross,  sometimes 
by  means  of  ropes,*^  but  more  commonly  by  means 
of  nails,  which  were  driven  through  his  hands  and 
feet.  Four  seems  to  have  been  the  number  of  nails 
used,  though  there  are  not  wanting  certain  anciisnt 
chroniclers  who  contend  that  both  Christ's  feet  were 
fastened  with  a  single  nail.  This  contention  is,  how- 
ever, equally  alien  to  common-sense  and  to  history.^ 

1  2  Kings  xxi.  8-10. 

2  Didon,  Vie  de  Jesus,  vol.  ii.  p.  334.  ^  xxi.  22  s(j. 

^  See  some  examples  of  how  this  law  was  carried  out  in  Josue 
viii.  29 ;  x.  26. 

^  Solemne  erat  patibulum  una  cum  corpore  defuncti  sepultura 
tradere.  Habac.  Sanhedrim  in  cap.  xv.  Quoted  by  Mgr.  Gerbet, 
Esquisse  de  Rome  chretienne,  3rd  ed.  vol,  ii.  p.  266. 

^  Justus  Lipsius,  De  Crtice,  Antwerpia*,  l6l5,  II.  ix. 

^  Fleury,  op.  oil.  p.  l67.  In  crucifying  with  three  nails  only, 
bones  would  necessarily  be  broken. 


THE   BURIAL   OF   THE  CROSS         43 

Plautus  makes  one  of  his  characters  to  say,  as  he  was 
sending  a  slave  to  death :  "I  will  give  a  talent  to 
him  who  gets  first  up  the  cross,  on  condition  that  the 
arms  be  pierced  twice  and  the  feet  also  twice."  ^  In 
the  well-known  caricature,  the  Palatine  grajjito^-  the 
man  with  the  ass's  head,  which  is  intended  to  repre- 
sent Christ,  has  his  feet  nailed  separately ;  the  youthful 
draughtsman,  in  this  particular,  doubtless  reproduced 
a  scene  which  he  had  often  witnessed.  Other  authori- 
ties are  of  opinion  that  the  condemned  was  attached 
by  the  wrists,  as  Plautus  insinuates  in  the  above, 
and  not  by  the  hands,  which  would  not  be  sufficiently 
firm  to  bear,  without  tearing,  the  weight  of  the  body. 
But  in  this  they  are  running  counter  to  the  Gospel, 
for  Jesus  says  to  the  unbelieving  Thomas :  "  Behold 
my  hands." "  The  corpse  of  the  condemned  was,  ac- 
cording to  the  same  Roman  usage,  deprived  of  burial, 
and  remained  exposed  until  the  birds  had  picked  the 
bones  clean ;  ^  a  watchman  stood  guard  near  the 
gibbet  to  prevent  the  body  being  carried  away.^  Jesus 
was  accordingly  crucified  alive.  As  His  agony  might 
have  been  protracted  several  days,  and  as,  moreover, 
the  fact  of  His  body  and  those  of  the  thieves  being 
exposed  would  have  profaned  the  Paschal  solemnity, 
the  chief  priests  obtained  of  Pilate  that  the  Roman 
custom  should  be  set  aside  for  once,  and  that  the 
death  of  the  condemned  should  be  hastened  by  the 
crurifragmm — i.e.  by  their  legs  being  broken — so 
that,  agreeably  with  the  Deuteronomic  legislation,  the 

^  Ego  dabo  ei  talentum^  primus  qui  in  crucem  excurserat  sed  ea 
lege,  ut  affigantur  bis  pedes,  bis  brachia,  Mostellar,  Act  ii.  scene  1, 
verses  12  and  13. 

"  Ga.Y\xcc\,  11  crocifisso  graffito.     Rome,  1857. 

3  Lk.  xxiv.  39 ;  Jn.  xx.  27. 

*  Non  pasces  in  cruce  eervos.     Horace,  Epistles,  I.  xvi.  48. 

'->  Petronius,  Satiricon,  cxi. ;  Plautus,  Miles  gloriosus,  II.  iv.  19. 


44       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

bodies  might  be  buried  and  the  crosses  hidden  that 
same  evening. 

The  Rabbis  had  summed  up  as  follows  the  rules 
to  be  observed  : — 

"  Let  none  be  hanged  on  a  tree  which  is  rooted  in  the  ground, 
for  the  wood  must  be  buried  with  the  condemned  in  order  that 
the  latter  may  not  leave  in  the  world  any  memory  of  his  shame, 
and  in  order  that  no  man  may  say  :  Behold  the  wood  on  which 
so  and  so  was  hanged.  VV^ith  regard  to  the  rock  with  which  a 
man  was  stoned,  or  the  sword  with  which  he  was  beheaded,  or  the 
cord  with  which  he  was  strangled,  let  all  such  objects  be  hidden 
away,  not  indeed  in  the  sepulchre  but  in  the  condemned  man's 
dungeon."  ^ 

In  the  case  of  our  Lord,  the  sepulchre  was  not  large 
enough  to  allow  of  the  legal  procedure  being  carried 
out  in  its  entirety.  As  we  have  already  stated,  the 
sepulchre  is  only  six  feet  by  five,  whereas  our 
Saviour's  cross,  according  to  what  is  antecedently 
probable,  and  indeed  true  in  the  case  of  the  good 
thief's  cross,'  measured  some  fifteen  feet  by  seven.^ 
Accordingly  the  historian  Socrates  is  guilty  of  a 
mistake  when  he  states  that  the  true  cross  was 
found  in  the  Holy  Sepulchre.*  St.  John  describes 
the  tomb  as  he  found  it  after  receiving  the  first  news 
of  the  Resurrection.    His  narrative  ^  depicts  a  narrow 

1  Nemo  suspenditur  ad  arborem  solo  innatam,  sed  ad  avulsam, 
ne  forte  excisio  ejus  sit  molesta ;  quia  lignum  una  cum  suspen.so 
sepeliendum  est,  ne  relinquat  turpem  in  mundo  memoriam,  aut 
dieatur :  ecce  de  hoc  ligno  pendebat  iste  vel  iste.  Sic  et  lapis 
quo  aliquis  obrutus,  gladio  quo  decapitatus,  sive  mantile  quo  aliquis 
strangulatus,  omnia  ha'c  sepeliuntur,  in  carcere  tamen  occisi,  non 
in  ipso  sepulcro.  Maimon,  Sanhedrim,  xv.  Quoted  by  K.  de 
Fleury,  up.  cit.  p.  51. 

-  It  is  shown  in  Rome  in  the  basilica  of  the  Holy  Cross. 

3  R.  de  Fleury,  op.  cit.  pp.  7^-74,  and  plates  2  and  3. 

«  Hist.  Eccl.  I.  17;  r.G.  Ixvii.  118-122. 

^  Jn.  XX.  6,  7. 


THE   BURIAL   OF   THE   CROSS         45 

cell  which  had  contained  a  body  and  nothing  more. 
Peter  could  scarcely  have  entered  and  taken  stock  of 
the  place  ^  had  it  been  encumbered  with  the  instru- 
ments of  the  Passion. 

But  Jewish  custom,  as  well  as  Roman  usage,  had 
been  to  some  extent  set  at  naught  in  the  burial  of 
Christ.  The  friends  of  the  crucified  lost  all  rights 
over  the  condemned.  But  in  this  case  the  execution 
had  been  sanctioned  by  Pilate,  and  he  was  a  Roman. 
Now  the  Roman  law,  as  afterwards  explained  by 
Ulpian,  had  it  that  "  their  bodies  shall  not  be  other- 
wise buried,  save  this  favour  have  been  previously 
sought  and  obtained."  In  certain  circumstances  this 
favour  was  not  to  be  granted.  "  And  let  no  such 
permission  be  given  when  the  crime  is  particularly 
grievous."  ^  As  soon  as  the  Master  had  breathed 
His  last.  His  secret  disciple,  Joseph  of  Arimatheea, 
making  use  of  the  power  inherent  in  his  position  as 
a  Sanhedrist,  went  in  to  Pilate,  and  asked  for  the 
requisite  permission  to  bury  the  body.^  The  governor, 
tired  as  he  was  of  being  made  the  tool  of  Jewish 
hatred,  once  again  showed  his  belief  in  Christ's 
innocence  by  granting  the  request.  From  this  in- 
stant the  mortal  remains  of  Christ  belonged  to  His 
mother.  They  were  bathed  in  the  tears  of  JNIary 
Magdalen,  and  embalmed  with  the  myrrh  and  aloes 
brought  by  Nicodemus ;  ^  and  passers-by,  seeing  the 

1  Lk.  xxiv.  12. 

-  Corpora  non  aliter  sepeliuntur,  quam  si  fuerit  petitum  et 
permissum  .  .  .  et  nonnunquam  non  permittitur  maxime  majestatis 
causa  damnatorum.  De  cadaveribus  punitorum,  xlviii.  24',  [Ulpian's 
instance  where  the  permission  in  question  is  to  be  refused  seems 
to  be  that  of  the  criinen  majestatis,  not  that  of  a  "particularly 
grievous  crime." — Trails.^ 

3  Jn.  xix.  38. 

*  Jn.  xix.  39. 


46       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

stone  rolled  in  front  of  the  sepulchre,  might  say : 
"  This  is  the  tomb  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom  the 
priests  crucified."  With  respect  to  the  crosses,  they 
disappeared  together  with  the  bodies  of  the  two 
thieves,  Gesmas  and  Dismas ;  doubtless  carried  away 
by  the  Temple-guards  as  soon  as  the  disciples,  over- 
taken by  nightfall,  had  closed  the  sepulchre  and 
withdrawn  to  the  Cicnaculum. 

If  we  take  our  stand  in  the  middle  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  Church,  facing  southward,  we  shall  have 
the  sepulchre  to  our  right,  Calvary  in  front  of  us, 
and  the  chapel  of  St.  Helena,  below  which  later  on 
the  crosses  were  to  be  discovered,  far  away  to  our 
left — i.e.  in  the  extreme  east  of  the  basilica.  Concern- 
ing the  identity  of  the  spots  there  is  not  much  doubt ; 
in  J327  the  Bishop  Macarius  consecrated  them  by 
erecting  altars,  which  have  stood  there  for  over  fifteen 
centuries,  whilst  different  buildings  have  succeeded 
each  other  above — first  Constantine's  basilica,  then 
that  of  Modestus,  then  that  of  Constantine-Mono- 
machus,  and  lastly  that  of  the  Crusaders.  The  three 
crosses,  and  probably  also  the  bodies  of  the  thieves 
were  taken  down  to  the  lowest  part  of  the  cavern, 
which  opened  at  the  spot  of  Golgotha.  Deshaye, 
who  was  sent  in  1621  by  Louis  XIII.  to  report  on 
the  Holy  Places,  thus  describes  this  cave :  "  On 
coming  out  of  this  chapel  ^  we  find  on  our  left  a  large 
staircase,  which  descends  through  the  walls  of  the 
church  down  to  a  kind  of  cellar  hewn  out  of  the  rock. 
After  having  gone  down  some  thirty  steps  we  see 
on  the  left  a  chapel  which  is  commonly  known  as 
the  chapel  of  St.  Helena,  because  here  she  prayed 
whilst  the  Holy  Cross  was  being  sought  for.     We 

^  The  reference  is  to  the  chapel  which  commemorates  the  cast- 
ing of  lots  on  Christ's  seamless  tunic. 


THE   BURIAL  OF   THE   CROSS        47 

then  descend  another  flight  of  eleven  steps  to  the 
spot  where  it  was  found."  ^ 

The  Holy  Sepulchre  Church  was  burnt  down  in 
1808,  but  in  the  rebuilding  no  change  was  made  in 
the  position  of  these  various  spots.  Take,  for  instance, 
Pierre  Loti's  vivid  account  of  the  same  locality : 
"In  deep  darkness  we  descend  to  the  chapel  of  St. 
Helena  by  a  wide,  much-used  and  broken,  and 
perilous  staircase,  itself  scarcely  more  than  a  ruin. 
.  .  .  At  the  bottom  we  find  the  chapel,  which  after 
the  darkness  of  the  staircase  seems  as  bright  as  day. 
Here  we  feel  creeping  over  us  that  unspeakable  feel- 
ing of  ages  long  passed  away.  Scarcely  can  we 
catch  the  far-distant  sound  of  the  music  and  the 
bells  in  the  church  above.  But  behind  the  altar 
we  find  another  staircase,  which  takes  us  down  even 
lower,  into  yet  blacker  darkness."  ^  Father  Zanecchia 
states^  that  the  chapel  is  twenty-one  feet  below  the 
basilica,  and  that  from  it  thirteen  more  steps  lead 
us  to  the  place  of  the  finding  of  the  Cross — a  room 
about  twenty-three  feet  long  and  about  fifteen  in 
width  and  in  height.  In  seeing  it  we  are  instantly 
reminded  of  the  caverns  which  the  Persians  trans- 
formed into  prisons,  or  of  those  in  which,  Sister 
Emmerich  tells  us,  the  broken-hearted  disciples  hid 
themselves  during  the  dreadful  night  which  followed 
the  Passion. 

Whose  were  the  hands  that  dragged  the  crosses  to 
the  bottom  of  this  abyss,  where  they  lay  forgotten 
until  A.D.  327  ?  In  his  letter  to  Macarius,  Con- 
stantine  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Christians 
had  excavated  this  hole  to  screen  the  Cross  from 

^  See  Chateaubriand's  Itineraire. 

2  Jerwsalem,  p.  59. 

^  La  Palestine  d' aujourd' hut,  vol.  i.  p.  286. 


48       THE   FINDING    OF   THE   CROSS 

evil.^  Evidently  he  was  misled.  The  real  authors  of 
the  disappearance  of  the  Cross  were  the  Jews,  who 
after  all  were  merely  carrying  out  the  instructions 
of  their  law.  All  along  they  kept  their  eyes  on  the 
doings  of  the  disciples.  On  the  Sabbath  day — the 
first  Holy  Saturday — they  went  to  Pilate,  and  said :  ^ 

"  Sir,  we  have  remembered  that  that  seducer  said^  while  he  was 
yet  alive,  After  three  days  I  will  rise  again.  Command  therefore 
the  sepulchre  to  be  guarded  until  the  third  day,  lest  perhaps  his 
disciples  come  and  steal  him  away  and  say  to  the  people  :  He  is 
risen  from  the  dead,  and  the  last  error  shall  be  worse  than  the  first. 
Pilate  said  to  them.  You  have  a  guard,  go,  guard  it  as  you  know. 
And  they,  departing,  made  the  sepulchre  sure,  sealing  the  stone 
and  setting  guards." 

Hence  Calvary  and  the  sepulchre  were  both  guarded 
by  the  soldiery,  by  the  same  fanatical  servants  of  the 
high  priest  who  had  dared  to  buffet  Christ  and  spit  in 
His  face.  There  was  no  longer  any  room  for  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  the  disciples,  even  had  they  elected 
to  remain.  If  we  may  believe  the  apocryphal  Gospel 
of  Nicodemus,  even  Joseph  of  Arimatha^a  was  appre- 
hended for  his  kindly  intervention  on  behalf  of  Christ. 
Hence  the  Temple-guards  remained  the  masters  of 
the  situation  during  the  Good  Friday  night.  The 
chief  priests  being  only  too  anxious  to  hide  every- 
thing reminiscent  of  the  Passion,  in  order  not  to 
provoke  a  new  explosion  of  popular  sympathy  for 
the  Nazarene,  took  care  that  the  Cross  should  dis- 
appear. Moreover,  in  so  doing  they  had  tradition 
on  their  side ;  hence  they  had  both  the  crosses  and 
the  bodies  of  the  thieves  cast  into  the  cistern.  Here 
they  were  safe  from  observation ;  and  the  place  being 

^  Quod  communi  omnium  hoste  sublato.  Eus.  de  vita  Const.  ; 
P.G.  XX.  1090. 

2  Mt.  xxvii.  6S  sq.  [Matthew  is  the  only  Evangelist  who  records 
this  mission  of  the  priests  and  its  sequel. — Trans.^ 


THE   BURIAL   OF   THE  CROSS        49 

near  one  of  the  gates,  it  would  soon  be  filled  up  with 
the  rubbish  of  the  city,  which  would  effectually  bury 
the  instrument  of  the  Passion.^ 

This  conjecture  is  based  on  a  juridical  reason.  The 
execution  of  a  condemned  man  in  its  every  detail 
belonged  to  the  public  authority.  The  hiding  of  the 
crosses,  of  the  stones,  of  the  sword,  or  of  the  cord,  in 
Hebrew  law,  was  a  part  of  the  execution.  Hence 
the  Jews  went  by  their  law.  As  the  cistern  is  at  no 
great  distance  from  Calvary,  we  may  say  that  the 
instruments  of  the  Passion  were  buried  in  the  very 
place  of  the  execution.  Moreover,  it  is  easy  to  see 
that,  in  fact,  the  Jews  were  the  real  actors  in  this 
part  of  the  play.  Can  we  imagine  the  followers  of 
Christ  throwing  the  Cross  of  Salvation,  with  the 
crosses  of  two  common  rogues,  one  of  whom  had 
died  with  a  blasphemy  on  his  lips,  into  a  receptacle 
of  the  city  filth  ?  No  ;  the  sacrilege  is  laid  at  the 
door  of  the  high  priest.  He  and  his  satellites  kept 
their  secret  so  well  that  the  disciples  never  learnt 
what  had  become  of  the  sacred  relics.  The  True 
Cross,  stained  with  the  blood  shed  by  Christ  for 
man's  salvation,  remained  for  nearly  three  centuries 
hidden  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  and  above  it  the 
deposit  of  dirt  from  the  city  each  day  grew  larger. 

2.    THE    CCENACULUM  ^   AND    THE    FLIGHT    TO    PELLA 

The  fortieth  day  after  His  Resurrection,  Christ 
brought   His  disciples  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and 

1  Carnifices  cruces  Christi  et  latronum  in  vallem  monte  Golgotheo 
subjectam  praecipitasse,  terraque  obruisse,  deinde  egestis  ac 
exoneratis  super  illas  totius  civitatis  sordibus,  vallem  oppletam 
fuisse,  crucesque  sub  sordium  acervo  obrutas  delituisse.  Gretser, 
De  Cruce  Christi,  i.  p.  63. 

2  On   the    CoETiaculum,  see    Lagrange,  La  dormition  de   la   sainte 


50       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

after  a  last  message  to  them  ascended  to  heaven, 
leaving  on  the  ground  where  He  had  last  stood  the 
imprint  of  His  left  foot.^  The  disciples  then  re- 
turned to  Jerusalem. 

"  And  when  they  were  come  in,  they  went  up  into  an  upper  room 
where  abode  Peter  and  John,  James  and  Andrew,  Philip  and 
Thomas,  Bartholomew  and  Matthew,  James  of  Alpheus  and 
Simon  Zelotes  and  Jude  the  brother  of  James.  All  these  were 
persevering  with  one  mind  in  prayer  with  the  women  and  Mary 
the  mother  of  Jesus  and  with  his  brethren."  ^ 

The  house,  which  St.  Luke  does  not  otherwise 
describe,  is  the  Ccenaciilum.  St.  Epiphanius,  after 
stating  that  this  was  its  name,  adds  that  it  was 
thither  that  the  disciples  betook  themselves  after  the 
Ascension.^  The  Apostles  seem  to  have  gone  there 
so  naturally  that,  in  the  absence  of  any  text  to 
affirm  the  fact,  we  may  infer  that  it  was  their 
habitual  residence.  Here  it  is  then  that  we  must 
locate  three  scenes  which  occurred  after  the  Passion. 
First,  the  appearance  of  Jesus  on  the  evening  of  the 
Resurrection  to  the  Apostles  and  the  disciples  of 
Emmaus,  who  had  just  returned  with  all  haste  to 
give  their  good  news  to  the  rest.  Christ  said  to 
them  :  "  Peace  be  with  you."     He  showed  them  His 

Vierge  el  la  moison  de  Jean  Marc,  Revue  biblique,  1899,  p.  ■''^^9  ,ff'.  ; 
Zahn,  Die  Domiilio  Sandce  Virginis  und  das  Hans  des  Juhatuics 
Marcus,  Neue  Kirchl.  Zeiischrift.  x.  5.  The  preceding  article  is  a 
criticism  of  the  latter.     1 1  nil  jours  a  Jerusalem,  p.  111. 

^  Zanecchia,  op.  cif.  vol.  i.  pp.  4.'J3  and  4.34.  [For  a  fuller 
description  of  the  story,  and  of  the  similar  traces  said  to  have  been 
left  at  Jerusalem  by  Mohamed,  see  De  Combes,  De  I'inv.  a  I'exalf. 
p.  172.] 

2  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  i.  13  sq". 

3  In  quern  discipuli,  posteaquam  Salvator  in  coelum  ex  Oliveti 
subvectus  est,  sese  recipientes,  coenaculum  conscenderunt.  De 
mensuris  et  ponderibus,  14  ;  P.G.  xliii.  col.  '15d,  262. 


THE   C(ENACULUM  51 

hands  and  His  side,  and  partook  of  a  piece  of  roast 
fish  and  of  a  Httle  honey.^  Secondly,  the  appearance 
a  week  later,  when  Thomas  was  permitted  to  put  his 
hands  to  the  wounds  of  our  Saviour.^  Thirdly,  the 
manifestation  on  the  fortieth  day,  during  the  meal, 
which  took  place  a  few  hours  previously  to  the 
Ascension.^ 

The  same  walls,  now  long  since  crumbled  away, 
also  witnessed  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the 
Apostles^  and  the  Last  Supper.  Certain  modern 
critics  suppose  that  these  last  two  events  happened 
in  different  places.  They  point  out  that  the  pilgrim 
Theodosius — Ave  are  uncertain  of  the  date  of  his  visit 
— locates  the  Last  Supper  near  the  Virgin's  tomb 
at  Gethsemani,^  and  that  to  find  a  decisive  testimony 
for  identifying  the  locality  of  the  Last  Supper  with 
that  of  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  we  must 
wait  till  Hesychius  of  Jerusalem  (a.d.  438)  draws  a 
parallel  between  Bethlehem  and  the  basilica  of  Sion.® 
But  we  may  well  protest  against  Theodosius'  slight 
mistake  being  pitted  against  a  tradition  which  is 
based  on  very  good  arguments.  Mark^  uses,  in 
order  to  describe  the  Coenaculum,  words  very  similar 
to  those  of  which  Luke  makes  use  to  describe  the 
lodging  of  the  Apostles.  St.  Epiphanius,  as  we  have 
already  said,  states  that  the  house  in  which  the 
Apostles  received  the  Holy  Ghost  was  called  from 
the  very  beginning  the  Coenacuhun — a  word  evidently 

1  Lk.  xxiv.  36-43  ;  Jn.  xx.  19-2S.  2  j^.  xx.  24-31. 

3  Mk.  xvi.  14.  *Actsii.  1-4. 

^  Et  ibi  est  basilica  Sancte  Marie,  Matris  Domini^  et  ibi  est 
sepulcrum  ejus.  Et  ibi  est  locus  ubi  Dominus  cenavit  cum 
discipulis  suis.     De  Terra  Sancta,  xi.  ;  Tobler,  op.  cit.  p.  60. 

6  Tu  (Bethlehem)  panem  fermentasti,  sed  Sion  coenam  ostendit. 
Sermones ;  P.G.  xciii.  col.  1480. 

^  Mk.  xiv.  15. 


52       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

reminiscent  of  Coena — the  "  dining-hall."  Lastly,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  explain  why  in  the  fourth 
century  a  large  portion  of  the  Maundy-Thursday 
service  took  place  in  the  church  of  Sion,  if  it  was  not 
believed  that  the  Holy  Eucharist  had  been  instituted 
in  this  building.  Were  Theodosius  correct  in  his 
view,  the  ceremony  should  have  taken  place  in  St. 
INIary's  basilica.  Arculfus  in  670,^  Venerable  Bede 
about  720,'  are  witnesses  to  the  constancy  of  the 
tradition  impugned  by  Theodosius. 

It  was  to  the  house  of  a  friend  and  disciple  that  on 
Maundy-Thursday  Christ  directed  His  steps.  This  is 
apparent  from  the  tone  of  His  injunction  ^ :  "  Go  ye 
into  the  city  to  a  certain  man,  and  say  to  him,  The 
JNl aster  saith.  My  time  is  near  at  hand,  with  thee  I 
make  the  pasch  with  my  disciples."  This  friend  it 
was  that  furnished  the  first  church  for  Christianity, 
and  a  home  for  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Apostles. 
"  All  they  that  believed  were  together,  and  had  all 
things  in  common."*  According  to  Theodosius  the 
Coenaculum  belonged  to  the  mother  of  the  Evangelist 
Mark^;  according  to  the  pseudo- Antoninus  (570)  it 
belonged  to  St.  James  "^ ;  according  to  Abbot  Daniel 
(1102)  it  was  the  house  of  John  the  Theologian.^ 
None  of  these  testimonies  are  decisive.  The  Apostles 
John  and  James  were  with  Christ  on  Maundy-Thurs- 
day ;  hence  it  would  not  have  been  necessary  to  send 

1  Relalio  de  locis  sanclis  ab  Adamnano  scripla,  xix.  ;  Tobler,  op.  cif. 
p.  l60.  [It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Sion  is  now  often  used 
to  designate  merely  the  Ccmaculum. — Transl] 

2  De  Locis  Sanctis,  iii.  ;  Tobler,  p.  218.  [This  account,  there  is 
reason  to  believe,  is  based  on  the  former. — Trans. ^ 

3  Mt.  xxvi.  18.  *  Acts  ii.  44. 
^  De  Terra  Sancta,  vi. ;  Tobler,  p.  65. 

^  Perambulalio  locorum  sanctorum,  xxii. ;  Tobler,  p.  103. 
^  Jlincraircs  russcs  en  Orient,  p.  35. 


THE    C(ENACULUM  53 

a  messenger  into  the  city  had  the  house  belonged  to 
them.  With  regard  to  the  house  of  JNIary,  the  mother 
of  John  Mark,  it  was  not  the  Coenaculum ;  it  was  to 
the  former  house  that  Peter  later  on,  after  having 
miraculously  escaped  from  prison,  went  on  an  Easter 
night,  and  there  found  the  Christians  gathered  to- 
gether ;  ^  but  that  this  was  not  the  Coenaculum  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  James  was  not  there.  Ac- 
cording to  Venerable  Bede^  and  the  monk  Bernard, 
who  made  his  pilgrimage  about  the  year  870,^  the 
Blessed  Virgin  dwelt  in  the  Coenaculum  after  the 
Passion ;  here  also  she  died,  if  we  may  call  an  end 
such  as  hers  a  death.*  On  the  plan  of  Sion  drawn 
by  Adamnanus  from  the  description  furnished  by 
Arculfus,  we  find  in  a  corner,  to  the  right  on  entering, 
the  words  :  "  Here  St.  Mary  died."  ^ 

A  few  writers  have  been  found  to  maintain  that 
owing  to  the  Coenaculum  proper  having  been  trans- 
formed into  a  church,  Mary  was  obliged  to  migrate 
to  a  little  adjacent  building.'^  Adrichomius,  a  Dutch 
pilgrim  of  the  sixteenth  century,'  informs  us  that  he 
saw  the  one  remaining  wall  of  this  building.^  The 
Abbe  Durand  ^  adds :  "  Adjoining  this  house  was  a 
little   chapel,  with  a  cistern  within.     According  to 

^  Acts  xii.  12  sq. 

2  Ibique  Sancta  Maria  obierat,  loc.  cit. 

3  Itmerarmm  Bernardi  monachi  Franci,  xi. ;  Tobler  and  Molinier, 
p.  315. 

*  See  a  sermon  of  Modestus  (seventh  century)  on  the  Assumption. 
P.G.  Ixxxvi.  col.  3288-3300. 

^  Hie  Sancta  Maria  obiit.    Tobler,  p.  l60.    See  the  sketch  below. 

^  Hipplytus  of  Thebes  (eighth  century)  states  that  the  house 
where  Mary  died  had  been  bought  by  John.  Lagrange,  loc.  cit. 
p.  596. 

7  He  died  in  1585. 

^  In  descriptions  locorum  montis  Sion,  No.  10. 

^  L'£crin  de  la  Sainte  Vierge,  vol.  ii.  pp.  479-4'80. 


54       THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

Quaresmius  ^  it  was  called  the  chapel  of  St.  John 
the  Evangelist,  because,  according  to  tradition,  it  was 
here  that  the  beloved  disciple  was  accustomed  to  offer 
up  the  unbloody  sacrifice  in  Mary's  presence.  Boniface 
of  Ragusa  also  writes  of  this  sanctuary  ;  in  his  time  it 
was  still  in  existence,  and  still  contained  St.  John's 
altar.  But  the  greater  basilica,  of  which  this  chapel 
had  once  formed  a  part,  had  already  disappeared,  so 
that  the  chapel  stood  by  itself.-  Nothing  whatever 
now  remains  of  any  of  these  buildings." 

There  are,  however,  certain  details  in  this  last- 
mentioned  tradition  which  are  very  suspicious.  The 
Mass  did  not  acquire  its  complete  liturgical  form 
till  a  good  many  years  after  the  death  of  Christ.  It 
would  be  an  anachronism  to  picture  the  Apostle 
John,  served  by  an  altar-boy,  saying  Mass  for  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  whilst  the  other  Apostles  were  wor- 
shipping God  in  the  Temple  according  to  Jewish 
rites. 

It  is  possible  to  reconstruct  fairly  accurately  the 
Cceiiaculum  by  combining  Arculfus's  plan^  with 
the  very  circumstantial  description  of  the  place  in 
1106  given  by  the  Russian  abbot  Daniel.*  It  seems 
to  have  consisted  in  a  house  having  a  ground  floor 
and  one  upper  room,  the  direction  of  the  house  being 
due  east  and  west.  The  entrance  was  somewhat  to 
the  east  on  the  northern  side.  As  is  customary  in 
the  Levant,  whereas  the  lower  room  was  partitioned 
off  into  several  chambers  designed  to  serve  the 
purposes  of  the  household,  the  upper  room  was 
undivided,  and  served  as   a  guest-chamber  for  the 

1  Eliicidatio  terrce  sanctoe,  bk.  iv,  chap.  xvi. 

2  De  perenni  cultu  Terrce  Sanctce,  bk.  ii. 

3  Tobler,  p.  l60. 

*  In  Mme.  de  Khitrowo's  trans,  p.  35. 


THE   C(ENACULUM  55 

visitors.^  Arculfus's  plan  only  shows  a  single  floor ; 
but  this  is  evidently  a  mistake  of  Adamnanus,  who 
acted  as  his  draughtsman,  for  that  the  building  con- 
tained an  upper  and  a  lower  room  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  in  view  of  St.  Cyril's  statement.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  latter  had  seen  the  house 
before  it  was  transformed  into  a  basilica. 

On  the  ground  floor  two  small  rooms  were  situated 
against  the  western  wall ;  of  the  two,  the  one  to  the 
north  was  the  Virgin's  cell,  whilst  in  that  to  the  south 
the  disciples  were  assembled  when  Christ  appeared  to 
St.  Thomas.  At  the  other  end  of  the  ground  floor — 
i.e.  to  the  east — was  the  room  in  which,  according  to  a 
tradition  (which,  by  the  way,  seems  scarcely  consonant 
with  the  Gospels),  Christ  washed  His  Apostles'  feet. 
The  space  between  these  different  compartments  was 
soon  transformed  into  a  public  oratory.^  Against  the 
southern  wall  there  was  a  flight  of  stairs  leading  to 
the  first  floor. 

The  single  upper  room  had  been  honoured  by  the 
celebration  of  the  Last  Supper,  which  is  stated  to 
have  taken  place  at  its  eastern  end,  whilst  at  the 
western  end  was  the  sleeping  apartment  of  the 
Apostles ;  here  too  it  was  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
descended  on  the  Apostles  in  tongues,  as  it  were, 
of  fire.^     This  is  how  Arculfus  also  divides  up  the 

1  Lagrange,  Revue  bibliqiie,  1899}  p.  591. 

^  Abbot  Daniel's  description  is  confirmed  by  the  Pilgrimage  of 
the  archimandrite  Grethenios  (circa  1 400).  "  Below,  beneath  the  room 
which  witnessed  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  the  cell  where 
Christ  appeared  to  His  disciples  after  eight  days,  and  there  too  it 
was  that  Thomas  touched  the  side  of  his  Lord,  and  believed." 
Mme,  de  Khitrowo,  Itineraires  russes,  p.  176.  Cp.  in  the  same 
collection  the  Pilgrimage  of  Ignatius  of  Smolensk,  p.  154,  and  the 
Life  and  Pilgrimage  of  the  deacon  Zosimus,  p.  212. 

2  Cjn-il,  Catecheses. 


56       THE   FINDING    OF   THE   CROSS 

room.  The  Apostles,  doubtless  through  motives  of 
reverence,  avoided  religiously  the  place  of  the  Last 
Supper. 

The  texts  from  Epiphanius  and  Bede,  to  which  we 
have  already  made  allusion,  prove  that  the  Coenaculum 
had  early  become  a  church.^  Theodosius  states  that, 
already  in  the  sixth  century,  the  Pillar  of  the  Scourging 
had  been  carried  thither,  and  that,  besides  this  relic, 
there  were  venerated  here  the  Crown  of  Thorns,  which 
was  kept  in  the  centre  of  the  church,  and  the  Holy 
Lance,  which  stood  in  the  sanctuary.^  Doubtless,  so 
long  as  it  existed,  this  building,  from  the  Passion 
onward,  never  ceased  being  a  resort  of  the  faithful, 
and  the  depository  of  their  sacred  relics,  for  we  must 
remember  that  it  escaped  destruction  in  the  siege  by 
Titus,^  and  that  among  the  early  Christians  tradition 
ranked  above  all  else. 

What  must  not  have  been  the  feehngs  of  the 
Apostles,  the  witnesses  of  the  great  Sacrifice,  when 
they  contemplated  the  Crown  of  Thorns — that  only 
crown  whose  kingdom  knows  no  end — so  near  to  the 
sacred  spot  where  the  risen  Master  had  greeted  them 
with  the  words  "  Peace  be  to  you  "  ?  Every  human 
heart  experiences  the  need  of  treasuring  up  mementoes 
of  the  dead  it  once  loved  ;  famihes  piously  preserve 
the  uniforms  or  the  medals  and  decorations  of  those 
of  their  members  who  have  fallen  fighting  for  their 
country  ;  even  the  most  stern-hearted  of  Protestants 
venerate  at  Geneva  the  pulpit  used  by  Calvin.  Is  it 
conceivable  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Magdalen 

1  Theodosius,  loc.  cit,  calls  the  basilica  of  Sion  [the  Ccenaculum] 
"mater  omnium  ecclesiarum." 

2  Et  est  ibi  in  media  basilica  corona  spinea.  .  .  .  Inde  venis  ad 
Sacrarium,  et  ibi  est  lancea.     Tobler,  p.  Q5. 

3  Epiphanius,  De  mens,  et  pond.  14;  P.G.  xliii,  26 1. 


THE   CCENACULUM 


57 


■ 

<D    a) 

1    1 

Room  in 
which  Chl'is^ 

STaiVcase 

o  -  nj 
ai    > 
O   ft, 

Jl 

o 

o 

n 

lAllar 

n 

appealed  To 
S^Tbomas 

Cfoand 

The 

ViKQIOS 

Cell 

FloOK 

1        1 

r^lace  oobeKe 

~ 

rhe  Aloly 

Place 
of  ^be 

Last- 

Gbosr- 
descended 

FiKsr 

SroKe^ 

SappeK 

Abode 
of  rbe 
AposHes 

Tbe  Coenaculam  accoKdincj  To  rbe  descKiptions  given  by 
Abbor  Daniel  and  rbe  AKchimandKire  GKcrhenios. 


Locus  coeoe 
Domtni 

Co/u/nna  cui 
adfixrem  Oominus 
^kyelkfus  est 

M/c  5pirifusS 
Super  jftos Was 
(fe^cendit 

n 

1 

ri 

oSiit 

— I  firf4 

1   Supra 

Stephanas 
lapK/afus 


The  Coenaculum  accoKdinq  To  AKcal/bs 
Taken  /fom   ToblefS   Srine^a  lev^x  5anfcrae 


58       THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

and  the  beloved  disciple  should  not  have  gathered 
together  the  instruments  which  had  been  used  to 
afflict  their  friend  and  their  Saviour  ?  Some  supposi- 
tions are  antecedently  so  probable  that  they  scarcely 
fall  short  of  certainty. 

The  two  relics  which  formed  the  earliest  treasure  of 
Coenaculum  are  both  mentioned  in  the  Gospels. 
Longinus — his  name  is  probably  only  a  nickname, 
derived  from  a  word  meaning  a  spear  ^ —  had  the 
happiness  of  furnishing  the  first  of  the  relics.  It 
is  told  of  him  that  he  suffered  from  weak  sight, 
and  that  he  was  instantaneously  cured  by  some  of  the 
blood  and  water,  which  gushed  from  Christ's  side, 
falling  on  his  eyes.  He  collected  the  blood  of  the 
Saviour  in  a  phial,  with  which  he  would  never  part, 
and  which  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  his  grave  at 
Mantua  '"  during  the  reign  of  Charlemagne  (804).^ 

Christ  was  taken  down  from  the  Cross  by  soldiers 
who  from  foes  had  been  changed  into  friends.  They 
had  abused  Christ,  believing  Him  to  be  guilty,  but 
they  had  since  had  occasion  to  change  their  minds. 
Their  centurion  had  been  the  first  to  betray  this 
alteration  in  their  views  when,  pointing  to  Christ 
hanging  on  the  Cross,  he  had  exclaimed  * :  "  Indeed 
this  was  the  Son  of  God."  The  Blessed  Virgin  could 
stand  by,  weeping  in  peace,  for  she  had  as  her  de- 
fence against  the  fury  of  the  Jews  the  respect  of  the 

1  Aoyx^.  [See  the  section  on  Longinus's  lance  in  De  Combes, 
De  I'inv.  a  I' exalt,  pp.  144-156. — Tra7is.] 

^  Acta  SS.  LGth  March.  De  S.  Longiuo  militc  et  de  S.  Longino 
centurione. 

3  At  the  request  of  the  emperor,  the  Pope  went  to  Mantua  to 
examine  the  finds.  He  identified  the  Precious  Blood  by  the 
inscription  on  the  phial,  and  also  the  tomb  of  Longinus.  Egin- 
hardus,  Annals  of  France,  a.d.  804.     French  trans,  by  Teulet,  p.  1 14. 

*Mt.  xxvii.  .54. 


THE   CCENACULUM  59 

Roman  guard.  Doubtless  the  Crown  of  Thorns  was 
the  first  thing  to  be  handed  her.  John  had  hastened 
to  remove  this  instrument  of  torture  which  disfigured 
the  inanimate  body  of  his  Master.  Soon  the  nails 
too  had  been  extracted,  one  after  the  other,  and 
thrown  on  the  ground.^  The  body  slipped  down 
the  planed  wood,  and  lay  at  the  feet  of  His  mother, 
on  whose  lap  His  head  rested ;  the  stains  of  blood 
were  wiped  away,  and  the  body  was  ready  for  burial. 
But  can  we  believe  for  a  moment  that  the  Crown 
of  Thorns,  the  nails,  and  the  sponge  with  which  the 
body  had  been  washed,  were  suffered  to  remain  on 
the  spot  ?  Roman  law  handed  over  to  the  execu- 
tioners the  clothing  and  the  ornaments  of  small  value 
which  the  condemned  man  had  worn.^  The  execu- 
tioners in  this  case  had  shared  the  clothing,  drawing 
lots  for  the  seamless  coat  ^ ;  but  can  it  be  believed 
that  Joseph  of  Arimathsea  and  Nicodemus,  both  men 
of  wealth,  should  have  allowed  these  relics  to  be 
forgotten,  or  that  they  did  not  buy  them  back  at 
the  soldiers'  price  ?  As  for  the  lance  which  had 
pierced  the  side  of  Christ,  whether  it  was  the 
property  of  the  Roman  State  or  a  private  belonging 
of  the  soldier,  it  remained,  at  all  events,  in  the  hands 
of  the  latter.  Longinus  was  baptised,  and  left  the 
service ;  it  seems  probable  that  he  presented  the 
weapon  to  the  community  of  his  adoption.  When 
the  news  of  the  Resurrection  spread,  Peter  and  John 
came  running  to  the  scene.  Simon  Peter  forthwith 
"  went  into  the  sepulchre,  and  saw  the  linen  cloths 
lying,  and  the  napkin  that  had  been  about  his  head, 

1  R.  de  Fleury,  Mem.  169. 

2  Ulpian,   De  panniculariis,  i.   6 ;    De   bonis  damnatorum,  Digest, 
xlviii.  20. 

3  Mt.  xxvii.  35  ;  Jn.  xix.  23-24. 


60       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

not  lying  with  the  hnen  cloths,  but  apart,  wrapped  up 
into  one  place."^  Are  we  to  believ^e  that  the  disciples 
treated  these  fabrics  as  things  of  no  account  ?  All 
that  had  belonged  to  the  Son  now  belonged  to  the 
Mother,  and  hence  it  is  extremely  likely  that  these 
relics  were  removed  to  the  Ccenaculujfi,  where  the 
Blessed  Virgin  was  to  pass  the  last  days  of  her 
earthly  exile. 

The  Coenaculum  lay  near  the  ramparts,  to  the 
south  of  the  Western  Mount — a  mount  often  called 
the  Christian  Sion  to  distinguish  it  from  the  old  Sion 
of  Judaism,  which  was  on  the  opposite  hill.  Here 
the  Apostles  dwelt  in  the  "upper  room,"-  with  the 
door  safely  bolted  "for  fear  of  the  Jews."^  Only 
occasionally  did  they  leave  it  to  go  up  to  the  Temple, 
where  they  were  accustomed  to  worship  among  their 
own  countrymen,*  or  to  visit  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
which  seems  to  have  been  even  then  an  object  of 
veneration.^  The  Scribes  and  Sadducees  detested 
them,  but  the  common  people  heard  them  gladly,  ^ 
and  protected  their  dwelling-place. 

Later  on,  when  blood  again  began  to  flow,  the 
stones  which  had  served  to  shatter  the  mortal  frame 
of  the  proto-martyr  St.  Stephen  were  also  collected, 
and  afterwards  kept  company  with  the  Crown  of 
Thorns  and  the  Holy  Lance  in  the  Coenaculum.'^    The 

1  Jn.  XX.  6-7.  2  Acts  i.  13. 

3 Jn.  XX.  19.  ''Acts  iii.  1. 

^'  Qui  Christiani  fidem  sequebantur  post  mortem  ejus,  monu- 
mentum  istud  magnopere  coluerunt.  Socrates,  Hist.  eccl.  i.  17; 
P.G.  Ixvii.  118. 

"Acts  ii.  5-37;  iv.  21. 

'  Theoder.  §  6  ;  Antoninus  M.  22.  According  to  the  Itinerary  of 
Arculfus  the  block  of  stone  kept  at  the  Camaculioii  was  that  on 
which  St.  Stephen  had  been  stoned,  §  19.  Bede,  as  might  be 
expected,   follows   Arculfus.     See   the   texts   in   Tobler's   Itinera. 


THE   C(ENACULUM  61 

plan  left  by  Arculfus  shows  that  St.  Stephen's  relics 
were  housed  in  a  kind  of  out  -  building  to  the 
west. 

Thirty  years  after  these  events  there  was  much 
commotion  at  Jerusalem.  The  Jews  were  convinced 
that  the  time  predicted  by  Daniel  was  at  hand. 
They  persisted  in  denying  the  divine  character  of 
Jesus,  but  being  under  the  impression  that  the 
JNIessiah  would  suddenly  come,  during  a  popular 
upheaval,  to  lead  them  on  to  victory,  they  began 
to  plot  the  overthrow  of  Roman  supremacy.  The 
Zealots  were  closing  up  their  ranks  ;  the  Sicarii,  soon 
to  be  headed  by  John  of  Gischala,  were  laying  waste 
the  country,  making  no  distinction  between  friend 
and  foe.  Rumours  of  war  occasionally  reached  the 
disciples  in  the  Coenaculum  ;  St.  Epiphanius  has  it 
that  they  were  warned  to  fly  by  an  angel  from 
heaven.^  But  there  was  really  no  need  of  invoking 
the  Deus  ex  mackina.  The  Christians  had  not  for- 
gotten the  parting  words  of  Christ :  "  When  you 
shall  see  Jerusalem  compassed  about  with  an  army, 
then  know  that  the  desolation  thereof  is  at  hand. 
Then  let  those  who  are  in  Judea  flee  to  the  moun- 
tains, and  those  who  are  in  the  midst  thereof  depart 
out,  and  those  who  are  in  the  country  not  enter  into 
it,  for  these  are  the  days  of  vengeance."  ^  A  similar 
warning  had  been  given  by  Peter  and  Paul  not  long 
before  their  death  (a.d.  Q5  or  66),  to  wit :  "  That  soon 
God  would  send  against  the  Jews  a  king  who  would 
overcome  them,  and  lay  their  cities  level  with  the 
ground,  who  by  a  siege  would  reduce  them  by  hunger 

[The  later  history  of  the  Crown  of  Thorns  is  dealt  with  in  L.  de 
Combes,  De  I'inv.  a  l' exalt,  p.  \SS  ff. — Trans.^ 

^  De  7nens.  et  pond.  15  ;  P.G.  xliii.  262. 

2Lk.  xxi.  20-22  ;  Mt.  xxiv.  15-16. 


62       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

and  thirst  to  the  last  extreme.  That  then  they  would 
take  to  eating  human  flesh,  would  rise  one  against 
the  other,  that  they  would  be  taken  captiv  e  by  their 
foes,  and  see  their  women  tortured,  their  virgins 
violated  and  put  out  to  hire,  their  children  enslaved, 
their  sucklings  dashed  on  the  ground,  and  everywhere 
the  reign  of  the  all-destroying  fire  and  iron,  and 
finally  the  disappearance  of  the  entire  race,  carried 
a  prisoner  to  foreign  climes."^ 

This  awful  prediction,  which  was  verified  to  the 
letter  in  the  event,  was  alluded  to  by  Phlegon,  ^  a 
pagan  writer  of  the  second  century,  whose  works  have, 
unfortunately,  perished.  Our  only  knowledge  of  this 
allusion  of  his  is  derived  from  Origen,  who  writes  as 
follows  : — "  Phlegon  indeed,  in  the  thirteenth  or  four- 
teenth book  of  his  Chronicles,  ascribes  to  Christ  the 
foreknowledge  of  certain  future  events,  though  he 
goes  astray  in  putting  Peter's  name  in  the  place  of 
that  of  Jesus,  and  he  bears  witness  that  the  prediction 
was  fulfilled."^  The  mistake,  however,  was  not 
Phlegon's,  but  Origen's.  Phlegon  in  mentioning 
Peter  was  merely  speaking  of  the  same  tradition  as 
is  vouched  for  by  Lactantius. 

The  Christians  had  recognised  the  fulfilment  of  the 
double  sign  in  the  passing  triumph  of  the  Zealots  and 
of  the  Sicarii,*  and  in  the  approach  of  the  Roman 
army  to  lay  siege  to  the  Holy  City.^  They  may  also 
have  received  a  timely  intimation  of  approaching  dis- 
aster from  Peter  at  Rome,  for  Eusebius  throws  out  a 
hint  that  they  had  been  warned  by  information  sent 

^Lactantius,  Divinanim  institntiotium,  iv.  21  ;  P.L.  vi.  .516-517. 

-  A  freedman  of  Adrian's. 

^  Origen,  Contra  Celsum,  ii.  14, ;  P.G.  xi.  col.  823^1 

*  Jos.  Wars,  II.  xiii.  3. 

^  Jos.  Wars,  II.  xix. 


THE   CCENACULUM  63 

by  certain  saintly  persons.^  Their  subsequent  con- 
duct had  been  dictated  to  them  beforehand  by  Christ : 
"  He  that  is  in  the  field  let  him  not  go  back  to  take 
his  coat,  and  woe  to  them  that  are  with  child  and 
that  give  suck  in  those  days.  But  pray  that  your 
flight  be  not  in  the  winter  nor  on  the  Sabbath."  ^  The 
Christians  of  Jerusalem  obeyed  the  injunction.  They 
were  not  deceived  by  the  retreat  of  Cestius.  Had 
they  awaited  the  approach  of  Titus  they  would  have 
been  forced  by  John  of  Gischala  to  live  out  the  siege 
in  the  city.^  They  withdrew,  headed  by  their  bishop, 
Simeon,  the  relative  of  Christ,  afterwards  martyred 
under  Trajan  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty. 
In  leaving  the  Coenaculum  they  did  not  forget  the 
relics  of  the  crucifixion.  Seemingly  these  were  shared 
out  among  the  brethren — a  view  which  accounts  for 
the  disappearance  of  certain  items. 

M.  de  Champagny^  is  probably  right  in  his  con- 
jecture that  the  departure  of  the  Christians  took  place 
soon  after  the  retreat  of  Cestius  Gallus — i.e.  about  the 
beginning  of  the  year  G7.  The  Abbe  Fouard  ^  is  of  a 
different  opinion,  and  states  that  it  occurred  during 
the  siege  :  "  In  those  days  when  Simon  set  his  robbers 
at  John  of  Gischala,  in  the  midst  of  these  internal 
troubles,  the  watch  at  the  city  gates  must  have  been 
laxer  than  was  usual.  Seemingly  the  retreat  of  the 
Christians  was  effected   during,  or   soon   after,  one 

1  Ex  oraculo  quod  viris  quibusdam  sanctissimis  divinitus  editum 
fuerat.  Hist.  eccl.  iii.  5.  [More  probably  this  refers  to  the  angeUc 
visitation  mentioned  by  Epiphanius,  and  alluded  to  above. — 
Trans. ^ 

2  Mt.  xxiv.  \S  sq.  3  Jos,  Wars,  V.  x. 

^  Rome  et  Jiidee  au  temps  de  la  chute  de  Nero7i.    Paris  :  Bray,  1865. 

5  Saint  Paid  et  ses  dernieres  annees,  2nd  ed.  pp.  357-360.  Paris, 
1899.  [English  trans..  The  last  Years  of  St.  Paul,  by  Griffith. 
Longmans,  1901.] 


64       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

of  these  storms."     But  this  opinion  of  M.  Foiiard's 
scarcely  agrees  with  the  texts  we  possess.     Had  the 
Christians  fled  during  the  siege  their  action  would 
have  been  entirely  natural ;  whereas  chroniclers  seem 
agreed  on  this  point  at  least,  that  the  circumstances 
at  the  time  of  the  flight  were  not  threatening — so 
much  so  that  some  historians  sought  to  explain  the 
Christians'  departure  by  a  warning  given  by  an  angel, 
or  by  men  prophetically  inspired.       Eusebius,  too, 
explicitly  informs  us  that  the  flight  took  place  before 
hostilities   began.  ^     St.    Athanasius,   archbishop    of 
Alexandria,  makes  a  like  statement  when,  speaking 
of  the  crucifix  of  Berythus,  he  says :    "  Two  years 
before  Titus   and  Vespasian  destroyed  the  city  the 
faithful  and  the  disciples  of  Christ  were  warned  to 
flee  to  Agrippa's  kingdom,  he  being  an  ally  of  the 
Romans.  .  .  .  They  then  carried  away  with  them  the 
ikon,  with  other  church  furniture." "    The  direction  of 
this  retreat  was  not  left  to  the  faithful.     The  injunc- 
tion given  by  certain  holy  men  of  God  ^  was  to  the 
effect  that  they  should  cross  the  Jordan,  and  passing 
into  Decapolis,  settle  down  at  Pella  (Tabakat  Fahil), 
a  mountain  stronghold.    *'  The  situation  of  this  spot," 
writes  M.  Fouard,  "  is  a  splendid  one.     It  stands  on 
a  ledge  1000  feet  above  the  Jordan  valley,  and  it 

^  Ante  initium  belli. 

2  Sed  biennium  antequam  Titus  et  Vespasianus  eamdem  sub- 
verterint  urbem,  admoniti  sunt  a  spiritu  sancto  fideles  atque 
discipuli  Christi,  ut  relicta  urbe,  ad  regnum  se  transferent  Agrippae 
regis,  quia  ipse  tunc  Agrippa  Romanis  fcederatus  erat.  .  .  .  Quo 
tempore  etiam  icona  cum  caeteris  rebus  ecclesiasticis  deportata,  etc. 
Athanasius  (Spuria),  P.O.  xxviii.  col.  818. 

^  Ex  oraculo  quod  viris  quibusdam  sanctissimis  divinitus  editum 
fuerat  ante  initium  belli  ex  civitate  migrare,  et  oppidum  quoddam 
trans  Jordanem,  Pellam  nomine,  incolere  jussa  fuisset.  Eusebius, 
II. E.  iii.  5  ;  P.G.  xx.  col.  222. 


THE   CCENACULUM  65 

is  plentifully  supplied  with  water  from  the  torrents 
which  dash  down  the  ravines  round  about.  The 
natural  beauty  of  the  spot  had  already  attracted 
thither  some  of  Alexander's  veterans,  who  had  be- 
stowed on  it  the  name  of  their  leader's  country, 
Macedonia ;  the  town  was  a  pagan  rather  than  a 
Jewish  settlement."^  In  this  charming  spot  the 
refugees  found  peace,  nor  were  they  molested  by 
the  sceptical  worshippers  of  Jupiter. 

It  is  not  my  business  to  narrate  the  siege  of  Jeru- 
salem (a.d.  70),  nor  to  speak  of  Eleazar  and  his  2400 
Zealots  entrenched  round  the  Holy  of  Holies ;  of 
John  of  Gischala  and  his  6000  robbers  who  occupied 
the  other  portions  of  the  Temple,  nor  of  Simon,  son 
of  Gioras,  who  with  the  priests  and  most  of  the 
people  had  taken  his  stand  in  the  higher  city.  The 
three  factions  waged  war  unmercifully  one  with  the 
other,  and  this  under  the  very  noses  of  the  enemy. 
All  we  can  say  is  that  they  one  and  all  died  the  death 
of  heroes.  But  we  cannot  pass  over  in  silence  certain 
details  of  the  memorable  siege.  "  His  blood  be  upon 
us  and  upon  our  children  "  had  been  the  cry  of  the 
Jewish  rabble  when  it  demanded  the  death  of  Christ.^ 
The  wish  expressed  by  that  cry  was  fulfilled.  The 
Roman  captives  soon  learnt  to  know  the  meaning 
of  torture.  Josephus  states  that  the  hatred  and  the 
anger  of  the  Roman  soldiery  caused  these  unhappy 
men  to  experience  before  dying  every  sort  of  torture 
which  brutal  warriors  might  be  expected  to  inflict. 
When  the  besieged  attempted  a  sortie  for  the  sake 
of  foraging  they  were  seized,  and  crucified  in  front  of 
the   walls.      Not  less   than   five    hundred   wretches 

1  Op.  cit.  p.  359,  note  1.     For  a  description  of  Pella  see  Guerin, 
La  Galilee,  vol.  i.  p.  289  sq. 

2  Mt.  xxvii.  25. 


66       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

perished  daily  after  this  fashion.  As  Josephus  says : 
"  They  nailed  those  that  they  caught  to  crosses,  one 
after  one  way  and  another  after  another,  by  way  of 
jest ;  when  their  multitude  was  so  great  that  room 
was  wanting  for  the  crosses,  and  crosses  wanting  for 
the  bodies."  ^  The  ghastly  forest  of  crosses,  and  the 
crowds  of  carrion  crows  and  vultures  which  hovered 
around  them,  hid  from  each  other  the  two  opposing 
armies. 

After  the  siege  was  over  there  was  left  not  an 
inhabitant  in  the  city.  All  those  who  bore  weapons 
were  slain,  with  the  exception  of  the  finest  men 
among  them,  who  were  reserved  to  grace  the  victor's 
triumph,  and  serve  as  meat  for  the  beasts  in  the 
newly  erected  Coliseum.  The  other  people  were 
reduced  to  slavery.  A  few  days  before  the  Passion, 
as  Jesus  was  coming  out  of  the  Temple,  "  one  of  his 
disciples  saith  to  him,  JMaster,  behold  what  manner 
of  stones  and  what  buildings  are  here.  And  Jesus 
answered  and  said  to  him,  Seest  thou  all  these  great 
buildings  ?  There  shall  not  be  left  a  stone  upon  a 
stone  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down."  Titus,  in 
order  to  prevent  any  renewed  hostilities,  commanded 
the  tenth  legion,  Frctensis  (from  Sicily),  to  destroy  the 
city  to  its  very  foundations.  His  orders  were  fulfilled 
to  the  letter,  so  much  so  that  Josephus  writes  :  "  There 
was  nothing  left  to  make  those  that  came  thither 
believe  it  had  ever  been  inhabited."  ^  Later  on,  when 
Titus  again  passed  through  the  city  on  his  way  to 
Egypt,  he  found  the  place  a  wilderness  of  ruins,  amidst 
which  his  soldiers  were  busily  digging  for  the  treasures 
which,  as  they  had  been  informed  by  their  prisoners, 
were  buried  there  during  the  siege.^     At  the  foot  of 

1  Jos.  Wars,  V.  xi.  1.  -  Mk.  xiii.  1-2. 

a  Wars,  VII.  i.  1.  *  Wars,  VII.  v.  2. 


THE   CCENACULUM  67 

the  western  hill,  on  which  some  buildings  still  reared 
their  heads,  was  to  be  seen  nothing  but  tottering 
walls,  from  the  midst  of  which  there  came  the 
regular  sound  of  the  sappers'  picks  and  occasion- 
ally a  call  of  the  buccinuvi  conveying  the  centurion's 
orders. 

Chateaubriand  is  of  opinion  that  the  siege  of  a.d. 
70  had  no  effect  on  the  appearance  of  the  Holy 
Places.  In  a.d.  33  Golgotha  was,  as  we  have  said, 
outside  the  town.  In  a.d.  42  Herod  Agrippa  erected 
the  third  line  of  ramparts,  by  which  Gareb,  Bezetha, 
or  the  new  town,^  and  consequently  the  Holy  Places 
also,  were  enclosed  within  the  city  limits. 

On  first  reconnoitring  the  city  Titus  had  proposed 
to  attack  it  on  this  side ; "-  had  he  done  so  Calvary 
would  have  been  completely  altered  by  his  military 
works.  In  the  event,  however,  the  third  line  of 
ramparts  was  pierced  near  the  Temple,  upon  which 
Titus  took  up  his  position,  in  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians 
and  in  the  valley  of  the  Cedron.  He  finally  entered 
the  city  by  way  of  the  Temple,  so  that  the  garden  of 
Joseph  of  Arimatha^a  suffered  nothing  from  the  war. 
When  the  time  came  for  the  destruction  of  the  wall 
of  Ezechias,  the  soldiers  simply  overthrew  the  stones, 
and  left  them  piled  in  heaps.  As  the  cavern  con- 
taining the  crosses  lay  at  the  foot  of,  and  underneath, 
this  wall,  it  was  definitively  covered  by  the  broken-up 
masonry.  Calvary,  lying  as  it  did  some  little  distance 
from  the  wall,  came  out  scathless,  and  the  same  is 
true  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  which  lay  still  farther 
back ;  the  stone  which  closed  its  entrance,  and 
which  was  found  intact  in  327,  preserved  it  from 
damage. 

1  Jos.  Ant.  XIX.  vii.  2. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  V.  ii. 


68       THE   FINDING   OF   THE    CROSS 

3.    THE    BURIAL    OF    THE    HOLY    PLACES    BENEATH 
THE    FOUNDATIONS    OF  ^LIA    CAPITOLINA 

Some  few  erections  were  spared  by  Titus  from  the 
destruction  which  followed  the  siege  of  Jerusalem. 
*'  Ciesar  gave  orders  that  they  should  .  .  .  leave  as 
many  of  the  towers  standing  as  were  of  greatest 
eminence — that  is,  Phasaelus  and  Hippicus  and  Mari- 
amne — and  so  much  of  the  wall  as  enclosed  the  city 
on  the  west  side."  ^  Herod's  palace,  which  had  not 
been  hurt  by  the  siege,  and  the  quarter  round  about 
it,  was  made  the  camping-ground  of  the  tenth  legion. 
But  the  army  followers  also  required  lodgings,  and 
these  were  found  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Coenaculum^ 
"  The  Coenaciilum"  writes  St.  Epiphanius,  "  was  built 
in  the  higher  portion  of  Sion,  and  was  surrounded  by 
a  few  other  buildings  and  seven  synagogues,  which 
afterwards  served  as  sheds.  Of  all  these  buildings  it 
alone  was  still  standing  at  the  time  of  Constantine, 
like  *  a  cottage  in  the  vineyard,'  to  use  the  expression 
of  Scripture."^ 

The  Jews,  ousted  from  their  city,  made  Ca?sarea 
the  centre  of  their  religious  life  and  of  their  rabbinical 
schools,  but  the  Christians,  who  had  retired  to  Pella, 
probably  returned  home  as  soon  as  the  war  was  over.* 
There  was,  at  least,  no  difficulty  in  their  way,  for 

1  Jos.  Wars,\l\.  i.  1. 

-  [It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Cccnaculuvi,  though  outside 
the  present  walls  of  Jerusalem,  lay  at  that  time  within  them,  at 
their  south-western  angle. — Trans.'l 

3  De  metis,  et  poTid.  14;  P.G.  xliii.  259-262. 

*  Epiph :  "  Inde  post  eversam  urbem  regressi,  ingentibus  ..." 
op.  cit.  1.5  ;  but  a  few  lines  above,  when  speaking  of  Adrian's  visit, 
the  same  writer  says :  "  Jam  enim  ex  urbe  Pella  reduces  docere 
cceperant." 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  HOLY  PLACES    69 

they  had  behaved  as  loyal  subjects  of  Rome  in  leav- 
ing the  rebellious  city  together  with  the  family  of 
Agrippa,  the  ally  of  the  Romans  and  ruler  of  Pella. 
With  them  they  brought  back  the  Crown  of  Thorns 
and  the  Holy  Lance,  but  the  vesture  and  the  winding- 
sheet  of  Christ  had  already  gone  astray. 

The  faithful  of  Jerusalem  being  Jews  by  birth 
were  outwardly  little  different  from  the  other 
Hebrews.  Until  the  time  of  Adrian  not  one  of  their 
bishops  had  been  a  Gentile.^  Their  bishops  practised 
those  customs  of  the  older  Law  which  had  not  been 
forbidden  by  the  new.  Down  to  a.d.  137  they  united 
the  rite  of  circumcision  with  that  of  baptism.^  Pos- 
sibly on  account  of  the  confusion  of  these  two  sacra- 
ments, possibly  for  some  other  reason,  the  Jewish 
Church,  among  all  the  Christian  Churches  of  the 
^Empire,  was  the  only  one  to  be  molested  by  Adrian. 

When  this  emperor  made  his  tour,  "  the  city," 
writes  Renan,  "  had  been  sitting  in  desolation  for 
already  fifty-two  years,  presenting  the  spectacle  of 
a  heap  of  huge  stones  all  disjointed  and  strewn  about. 
The  only  habitations  to  be  perceived  were  a  few 
wretched  buildings  on  Mount  Sion,  mostly  belonging 
to  Christians.  The  site  of  the  Temple  had  become 
a  breeding-place  for  jackals.  These  ruins  gave  to 
Adrian  a  thought,  which  all  ruins  seem  to  have 
suggested  to  him  —  viz.  the  desire  to  rebuild  and 
colonise  the  city."  ^ 

But  the  Jews  were  awaiting  from  year  to  year  "  the 
star  which  was  to  rise  out  of  Jacob  and  the  sceptre 

^  Quos  omnes  origine  Hebraeos  fuisse  memorant.  Eus.  H.E. 
iv.    5;  P.G.  XX.  310. 

2  Proinde  cum  episcopi  qui  ex  circumcisione  erant  per  id 
tempus  defecerint.     Eus.  ibid. 

3  Renan ;  L'Eglise  chretienne,  4th  ed.  chap.  ii.  p.  21  sq. 


70       THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

which  was  to  spring  from  Israel."^  Hence  the  em- 
peror considered  that  it  would  be  wise  to  destroy 
their  JNIessianic  hopes  by  wiping  out  the  very  name 
of  Jerusalem.  The  new  city  was  to  be  exclusively 
Roman,  and  to  bear  the  name  of  jElia  CapitoUmi,  in 
memory  of  its  founder,  i5^]lius  Adrianus,  and  of  Jupiter 
Capitolinus. 

The  Fi^etensis  legion,  which  was  still  quartered 
amidst  the  ruins  of  the  Temple,  forthwith  set  to 
work  clearing  the  ground,^  and  by  the  year  122 
numbers  of  Latin  colonists  had  already  made  their 
appearance.  The  building  and  the  populating  of 
^lia  was  largely  left  to  veterans ;  tiles  and  bricks 
bearing  the  mark  of  the  legion,  L.X.F  or  LP2-X-FR 
(Legio  X  Fretensis),  are  still  frequently  found  round 
about  the  city.^ 

At  the  spot  where  Herod's  Temple  had  stood  the 
Romans  erected  a  temple  to  Jupiter  Capitolinus, 
in  front  of  which  they  placed  a  statue  of  Adrian,  on 
the  very  spot  once  occupied  by  the  Holy  of  Holies. 
Renan,  who  is  unable  to  treat  a  serious  subject  with- 
out sounding  a  note  of  good-humoured  scepticism, 
insinuates  that  Jupiter  was,  of  all  the  gods,  the 
deity  who  in  gravity  and  decorum  came  nearest  to 
Jehovah.* 

But  the  Jews  showed  little  appreciation  for  an  act 
which  Renan  would  have  us  regard  as  one  of  extreme 
graciousness.  The  measures  decreed  by  Adrian  ^  to 
repress  the  custom  of  circumcision  were  made  the 
pretext  of  a  general   revolt.      Akiba   saw   in    Bar- 

1  Numbers  xxiv.  17. 

2  Uuruy,  Hist,  des  Romains,  vol.  v.  p.  1  .'50. 

^Complex  rendus  de  I'Acadcmie  des  inscriptions,  1872,  p.  1.08; 
Zanecchia,  La  Palestine  d'aujourd'Imi,  vol.  i.  p.  188. 

*  Renan,  up.  cit.  p.  27.  "  Spartian,  Adrian. 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  HOLY  PLACES    71 

Kokaba  the  star  which  was  to  rise  out  of  Jacob ; 
Judea  was  aroused  ;  and  the  danger  seemed  so  great 
that  the  emperor  recalled  from  Britain  Julius  Severus, 
his  most  trusted  general.  If  the  victory  achieved 
by  Titus  was  the  ruin  of  Jerusalem,  that  gained  by 
Severus  was  the  ruin  of  Judea.  Fifty  strongholds 
and  nine  hundred  villages  were  razed  to  the  ground. 
Bar- Kokaba  died  fighting,  and  Akiba  was  taken,  and 
torn  to  pieces  with  a  white-hot  iron  rake.  Those  that 
survived  were  drafted  off  to  serve  as  food  for  the 
beasts  in  the  circus. 

This  insurrection  followed  closely  on  the  building 
of  the  new  city,^  and  its  result  was  that  Judea  be- 
came a  solitude,^  in  which  wolves  and  hyaenas  could 
multiply  in  peace,  j^lia  Capitolina,  so  far  as  the 
surviving  Jews  were  concerned,  was  a  closed  city. 
Only  once  in  the  year  were  they  allowed,  condition- 
ally on  the  payment  of  a  certain  tax,  to  come  and 
weep  on  the  ruins  of  the  Temple.  During  the  rising 
Bar-Kokaba  had  found  time  to  kindle  a  persecution 
against  the  Christians,  and  had  caused  all  to  perish 
in  torments  who  refused  to  blaspheme  the  name  of 
Christ.^ 

Renan  writes  :  *  **  iElia  with  its  Roman  colony  was 
strongly  guarded.  .  .  .  Doubtless,  too,  the  road  be- 
tween iElia  and  Cassarea — the  real  centre  of  Roman 
supremacy — was  never  in  danger.  Thus  during  the 
insurrection  iElia  was  never  cut  off  from  the  rest  of 
the  Empire.     Communication  with  the  outer  world 

1  Dion  Cassius,  Hist.  Ixix.  1 2. 

2  Ita  ut  omnis  pene  Judaea  relicta  sit  et  deserta.     Ibid.  14. 

^  Justin,  Ajiol.  i.  31  ;  P.G.  vi.  col.  375  ;  Eus.  Hist.  eccl.  iv.  6  ; 
P.G.  XX.  ;  Orosius,  vii.  13  ;  P.L.  xxxi.  1093. 

4  Renan,  ibid.  pp.  201,  202.  See  also  Appendix  I.  (p.  541),  where 
he  discusses  the  question  whether  Jerusalem  [j5ilia]  was  besieged 
under  Adrian. 


72       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

was  preserved  by  means  of  the  string  of  colonies 
lying  to  the  north  and  east  of  the  city,  especially  by 
means  of  the  two  strongholds,  Nicopolis  and  Lydda, 
where  the  Romans  were  firmly  entrenched.  It  is 
probable  that  the  revolt  on  its  way  northward  did 
not  reach  beyond  Bether,  and  that  it  never  threatened 
Jerusalem." 

At  the  end  of  the  war  the  building  of  the  new 
city  was  resumed.  There  being  no  longer  any  Jews 
to  persecute,  Adrian  turned  his  attention  to  the 
Christians,  though  he  did  not  put  them  to  death 
like  Bar-Kokaba,  the  law  of  the  time  preventing  any 
governor  from  taking  the  initiative  against  Christians.* 
The  faithful  held  in  veneration  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
and  Calvary ;  both  these  places  were  accordingly 
desecrated  and  set  aside  for  the  worship  of  the  gods 
of  Rome.  The  pagans  built  a  twenty-foot  wall  round 
Golgotha,  and  then  filled  in  the  space  between  with 
masonry.^  They  thus  changed  what  had  been  a 
valley  [the  vale  between  Golgotha  and  the  Tomb] 
into  a  high  level  platform  some  300  feet  in 
length.  On  this  platform  gardens  were  laid  out, 
in  the  midst  of  which,  immediately  above  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  stood  a  statue  of  Jupiter,  whilst  above 
Calvary  there  was  a  marble  statue  of  Venus  and  a 
small  temple.^  By  so  doing  the  builders  actually 
frustrated  their  own  purposes,  for  they  thus  marked 
for  future  generations  the  very  spots  of  which  they 
wished  the  memory  to  perish.     No  idol  was  placed 

^  See  Adrian's  letter  to  Minucius  Fundanus.  Eus.  Hist.  eccl.  iv. 
9.  Also  Trajan's  rescript  to  Pliny.  [See  also  Allard,  Ten  Lectures 
on  the  Martyrs,  London  :  Kegan  Paul,  1907,  p,  83  ff. — Trans.'\ 

2  Eus.  Vita  Const.  ;  P.G.  xx.  1086. 

3  Rufinus,  Hist.  eccl.  i.  7  ;  P.L.  xxi.  476;  Soer,  Hist  eccl.  i.  17; 
P.G.  Ixvii.  118;  Theophanes,  Chronogr.  (a.d.  317);  P.G.  cviii. 
110/. 


THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  HOLY  PLACES    73 

above  the  disused  cistern,  in  which  the  crosses  now 
lay — a  fact  which  tends  to  prove  that  the  Christians 
were  ignorant  of  its  position,  and  that  it  was  the 
object  of  no  special  veneration.  Lastly,  that  nothing 
might  be  left  undone,  Bethlehem  was  transformed 
into  a  grove  sacred  to  Adonis. 

St.  Jerome  writing  to  St.  Paulinus  of  Nola  says  ^ : 
*'  From  the  time  of  Adrian  to  that  of  Constantine 
— i.e.  for  nearly  two  hundred  years — an  idol  of  Jupiter 
was  adored  on  the  spot  of  the  Resurrection,  and  a 
marble  statue  of  Venus  in  the  place  where  the  Cross 
was  raised.  The  persecutors  thought  that  they 
would  destroy  belief  in  the  Resurrection  and  in  the 
Cross  by  defiling  the  Holy  Places  with  the  worship 
of  idols.  Even  our  own  Bethlehem,  the  most  sacred 
spot  on  earth,  of  which  the  prophet  said :  '  Truth  is 
come  out  of  that  land,'  was  made  into  a  grove  sacred 
to  Adonis,  in  which,  in  the  very  cave  which  had  heard 
the  first  cry  of  the  God-made-Man,  people  mourned 
the  lover  of  Venus." 

The  pagans  had  acted  perfidiously ;  they  wished  to 
make  it  appear  that  the  Christians  in  venerating 
Calvary  were  worshipping  Venus.  The  faithful 
soon  deserted  the  unhallowed  spot,  and  shut  up  their 
worship  within  their  own  hearts.^  Still  they  did  not 
forget  the  Holy  Places.  The  events  of  a.d.  137 
resulted  in  great  alterations  in  the  Church  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  church  of  the  circumcision  perished  with 
the  Roman  victory,  and  the  faithful  being  now  all  of 
them  Gentiles,  at  last  selected  an  uncircumcised 
bishop,^  Mark.      The  Latin  colonists  soon  tired   of 

lEp.  Iviii.  ;  P.L.  xxii.  581. 

2  Rufinus,  Hist.  eccl.  i.  7. 

3  Primus  post  episcopos  ex  circumcisione  sacerdotium  illius 
civitatis  suscepit  Marcus.     Eus.  H.E,  iv.  6  j  P.G.  xx.  31 6. 


74       THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

iElia,  and  went  back  to  their  homes,  and  the  Chris- 
tians were  left  in  peace  until  the  time  of  Diocletian. 
The  miracle  of  the  oils  at  the  Easter  of  162,  in  the 
reign  of  Aurelius,  shows  that  worship  was  carried 
out  publicly/  The  bishop  Alexander  was  even  able 
to  found  a  library,  well  known  for  its  treasures,  which 
was  still  existing  at  the  time  of  Eusebius  of  Caesarea.^ 
Here  evidently  the  Church  was  very  different  from 
the  Church  of  the  catacombs. 

4.    THE   EARLY   WORSHIP   OF   THE   CROSS.      THE 
MONOGRAMS 

The  crosses  on  which  malefactors  were  put  to 
death  may  be  classed  in  three  categories.^  There 
was  the  Crux  decussata,  or  cross  in  the  form  of  the 
letter  X,  also  known  as  St.  Andrew's  cross.  It  was 
composed  of  two  beams  crossed  at  an  acute  angle, 
like  the  strokes  in  the  Latin  figure  for  ten  ;  the  ends 
of  both  beams,  in  this  case,  were  buried  in  the  ground. 
Then  there  was  the  Crzix  commissa,  also  called  pati- 
bulata  (gallow-shaped),  which  consisted  in  a  short 
beam  fastened  to  the  top  of  a  longer  beam ;  this 
cross  resembled  the  letter  T.  Lastly,  there  was  the 
Crux  if/wdssa,  or  capitata  f,  also  known  as  the  Latin 
cross.  It  was  formed  of  a  long  vertical  beam,  which 
was  crossed  at  two-thirds  of  the  height  by  another 
and  shorter  beam,  which  was  fastened  in  the  centre.* 

1  Eus.  H.E.  vi.  9.  2  Eus.  H.E.  vi.  20. 

3  F.  Martin,  Archeologie  de  la  Passion,  Paris:  Lethielleux, 
p.  l65  S(].  Justus  Lipsius,  De  cruce.  Antwerp,  l6l7.  Martigny, 
Dictionnaire  des  antiquites  chrctiennes  (art.  Croix).  [Encj/cl.  Bihl.  art. 
Cross. — Trans.^ 

■*  [There  was  yet  another  cross,  the  Crux  simplex,  a  single  stake  or 
gigantic  spit  on  which  the  criminal  was  impaled.  See  Cicero,  Pro 
Rabirio,  4.] 


THE  EARLY  WORSHIP  OF  THE  CROSS     75 

As  Christ's  cross  had  not  been  described  by  the 
Evangelists,  and  as  it  had  been  hidden  as  soon  as  the 
Passion  was  over,  the  faithful  soon  forgot  its  shape. 
It  would  seem  that  the  cross  used  was  the  crux 
immissa,  as  we  are  told  that  the  soldiers  placed  the 
title  over  Christ's  head.^  Dom  Calmet,  however,  has 
invented  a  new  theory :  "  The  prolongation  of  the 
cross,  to  which  was  fixed  the  title  or  sentence  of  con- 
demnation, was  merely  a  stake  bearing  a  board,  on 
which  the  words  were  graved."  In  1856  Garucci 
found  among  the  Palatine  ruins  a  caricature,  prob- 
ably of  the  second  century,  drawn  on  the  wall, 
and  depicting  Christ  nailed  to  the  cross  in  the  form 
of  a  man  with  an  ass's  head.  Dom  Calmet  is  right 
in  his  statement  that  this  cross  is  in  the  form  of 
a  T,  and  that  from  the  middle  of  the  transverse 
beam  there  rises  a  little  stake,  no  doubt  designed  to 
carry  the  title." 

But  one  document  is  not  sufficient  to  establish  a 
thesis.  The  Latin  cross,  that  form  which  has  pre- 
vailed in  our  crucifixes,  has  in  its  favour  a  long- 
standing tradition.^  There  are  also  two  other  note- 
worthy testimonies  in  its  favour.  Firstly,  that  of 
Justin  Martyr,  who  was  put  to  death  in  168  under 
the  philosopher  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  who  sees  a 
prophecy  concerning  the  cross  in  the  blessing  pro- 
nounced by  Moses  on  the  tribe  of  Joseph.  "  To 
Joseph  also  he  said.  Of  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  be 
his  land,  of  the  fruits  of  heaven,  and  of  the  dew,  and 
of  the  deep  that  lieth  beneath.  .  .  .  His  beauty  as  of 

1  Mt.  xxvii.  37  ;  Lk.  xxiii.  38. 

2  The  caricature  may  be  found  in  Daremberg  and  Saglio's  Diction- 
ary (art.  Crux).  Duruy,  Hist,  des  Romains,  vol.  vi.  p.  208  ;  Perate, 
Archeologie  chretienne,   p.    141,  etc. 

^Aringhi,  Roma  subterranea.     Martin,  p.  l68. 


76       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  firstling  of  a  bullock,  his  horns  as  the  horns  of 
a  rhinoceros."  ^  St.  Justin  conceives  of  this  figure  as 
if  the  two  horns  of  the  bullock  and  the  single  horn  of 
the  rhinoceros  ^  were  all  on  a  single  head.  He  goes  on : 
*'  Nobody  can  explain  nor  show  us  a  representation 
of  these  horns  of  the  unicorn  elsewhere  than  in  the 
cross.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  cross  consists  of  a 
perpendicular  beam,  of  which  the  higher  portion 
stands  out  as  a  horn,  whilst  the  other  beam,  which  is 
fastened  to  it,  projects  at  either  side,  as  it  were  two 
horns  attached  to  the  single  horn  in  the  centre."  ^ 
This  text  seems  to  agree  thoroughly  with  the  form 
of  the  Latin  cross.  One  of  its  ends  being  buried  in 
the  ground,  only  the  three  horns — i.e.  the  upper  ex- 
tremities— of  the  cross  remain  in  sight.  We  have, 
secondly,  the  still  more  important  testimony  of  St. 
Irena?us  (a.d  140-202),  who  succeeded  St.  Pothinus 
as  bishop  of  Lyons.  His  testimony  is  of  even  more 
value    than    Justin's,    for    having    been    Polycarp's 

1  Deuteronomy  xxxiii.  13,  17.  [From  one  point  of  view  there 
would  be  a  certain  advantage  in  reading  *'  unicorn "  (as  in  the 
Authorised  Version)  instead  of  "  rhinoceros,"  the  beauty  of  the 
latter  beast  being  a  quality  which  very  few  are  able  to  discern. 

2  Fouard  points  out  that  the  word  "horn"  has  a  symbolic 
meaning.  In  his  Fie  de  J^ms  (vol  i.  p.  29)  he  thus  translates 
Zachary's  canticle  (Luke  i.  68-69)  :  "  He  has  raised  up  for  us  out 
of  the  house  of  David,  his  child,  a  might  unconquerable  [a  horn], 
our  salvation."  In  note  3  on  the  same  page,  following  Winer 
{Grammatik  des  N.T.  Sprachidioms),  he  states  that  Kepas  o-wrr/pias 
is  a  genitive  with  oppositional  force.  Fillion,  Les  Saints  pAmngiles, 
translates  the  two  Greek  words  in  question  by  "a  mighty  Saviour." 

3  Unicornis  enim  cornua  nemo  dicere  aut  demonstrare  possit  in 
alia  re  aut  figura  inveniri,  nisi  in  ea  quae  crucem  exhibet.  Rectum 
enim  unum  lignum  est,  a  quo  summa  pars  in  cornu  attoUitur,  cum 
adaptatum  fuerit  aliud  lignum  et  utrinque  extrema,  veluti  cornua 
uni  adjuncta  cornu  apparuerint.  Justin,  Dialogus  cum  Tryphone 
JudcBo,  cap.  91 ;  ^.G.  vi.  69 1  and  694. 


THE  EAKLY  WORSHIP  OF  THE  CROSS    77 

disciple,  who  himself  was  a  hearer  of  St.  John,  his 
testimony  may  be  taken  as  the  last  echo  of  the 
Beloved  Disciple.  According  to  St.  Iremuus,  '*  the 
cross  had  five  extremities  or  summits,  in  length  two, 
in  breadth  two,  and  in  its  centre  also  one,  to  support 
the  body  of  the  crucified."  ^  This  is  an  exact  de- 
scription of  the  traditional  cross  ;  nothing  is  wanting, 
not  even  the  Hcdile. 

With  these  texts  to  rely  on  we  may  safely  dis- 
miss as  unnecessary  the  too  recent  testimonies  of  St. 
Jerome,  of  St.  Augustine,  ^and  of  St.  John  Damascene.' 
We  may,  however,  allude  to  the  upper  portion  of  the 
good  thief's  cross  preserved  at  Rome  in  the  basilica 
of  the  Holy  Cross ;  it  may  not  be  the  relic  it  pur- 
ports to  be,  but  it  certainly  is  a  very  ancient  article. 
We  may  also  ask  how  St.  Peter  could  have  been 
crucified  head  downwards  had  his  cross  been  in  the 
T  form.^  Lastly,  in  the  ruins  of  Pansa's  house  at 
Pompeii,  on  a  white  stucco  background,  there  was 
found  a  cross  in  relief."'  This  cross  is  of  the  crux  im- 
missa  type.  It  would  seem  that  this  is  a  Christian 
monument,  and  if  so,  it  is  the  most  ancient  known, 
for  it  must  have  been  wrought  before  a.d.  79. 

A  certain  number,  though  a  minority,  of  the 
Fathers  were  of  opinion  that  Christ  died  on  the 
three-armed  gibbet  known  as  the  CriitV  commissa  or 
patibulata.  Their  opinion  was  founded  on  the  pro- 
phecies of  Ezechiel.  The  Jews  were  to  be  destroyed 
by  Divine  Justice,  but  the  Lord  said  to  the  Cherub : 

MreniEUS,  Contra  Ilcvrcses,  lib.  ii.  cap.  iv ;  P.G.  vii.  794  and 
795. 

2  Et  altitudo  ab  illo  innixo  ligno  sursum  quod  eminet.  In  Psalm 
ciii. ;  P.L.  xxxvii. 

^  Dejide  orl/wdoxa,  iv.  II  ;  P.G.  xciv.  1129. 

*  Cf.  R.  de  Fleury,  op.  cit.  p.  66. 

**  Mazois,  Les  ruines  de  Pompci,  vol,  ii.  p.  84. 


78       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

"  Go  through  the  midst  of  the  city,  through  the  midst 
of  Jerusalem,  and  mark  Thau  upon  the  forehead  of 
the  men  that  sigh  and  mourn  for  all  the  abominations 
that  are  committed  in  the  midst  thereof"  ^  Now  the 
sign  Thau,  of  which  the  Bible  here  speaks,  is  un- 
doubtedly the  sign  of  the  Redemption,  and  in  its 
Greek  form  as  a  capital  it  is  written  like  the  Latin  T. 
From  this  Tertullian  hastens  to  infer  that  "  the  Greek 
letter  Thau  and  our  own  Latin  T  show  the  true  form 
of  the  cross  which,  according  to  the  prophet,  was  to 
be  impressed  on  our  foreheads  in  the  true  Jerusalem."^ 
Paulinus  of  Nola^  also  adopted  this  alphabetical 
answer  to  the  question,  and  the  mistaken  view  soon 
gained  a  good  number  of  adherents.  Its  traces  are 
to  be  found  in  the  catacombs,  notably  in  that  of  St. 
Callixtus,  in  the  third-century  inscription  ikeTne. 
The  size  of  the  fourth  letter  of  this  inscription  clearly 
shows  it  to  have  a  symbolic  value.*  All  the  emblems 
dear  to  the  early  Christians  reappear  on  a  second- 
century  cornelian '" ;  the  anchor,  the  fish,  the  sheep, 
the  dove,  the  ship,  the  cross,  the  Good  Shepherd, 
are  huddled  together  on  the  small  face  of  the  jewel. 
Here  the  cross,  in  the  form  of  a  T,  is  put  to  figure 
the  Passion,  and  is  actually  repeated  three  times :  in 
the  arms  of  the  anchor  ;  in  the  cross  surmounted  by  a 
dove,  which  the  sheep  carries  on  its  back ;  and  in  the 
mast  of  the  ship. 

St.  Paulinus  and  Tertullian  were  led  astray  by  their 

^  Ezechiel  ix.  4. 

2  Contra  Marcionem,  iii.  22  ;  P.L.  ii.  col.  353. 

^  Cujus  figura  per  litteram  Graecam  Tau  numero  trecentorum 
exprimitur.  Ep.  24  ad  Sev. ;  P.L.  Ixi.  300.  The  Greek  letter 
than  does,  in  fact,  stand  for  300. 

*  Northcote  and  Brownlow,  Roma  sotterranca,  p.  230 ;  Perate, 
Archeologie  chrel.  p.  142. 

*  Northcote  and  Brownlow.     (In  Allard's  French  trans,  p.  300.) 


THE  EARLY  WORSHIP  OF  THE  CROSS    79 

ignorance  of  philology,  and  they  it  was  that  provoked 
the  mistaken  designs  of  the  early  Christians.  They 
sought  for  the  form  of  the  sign  Thau  in  Greece  and 
Rome,  never  adverting  to  the  fact  that  Ezechiel, 
being  a  Jewish  prophet,  wrote  and  spoke  in  Hebrew, 
and  that  this  being  the  case,  the  letters  he  mentioned 
should  be  looked  for  in  Palestine  or  in  Phoenicea. 
Now  though  it  is  true  that  the  capital  Thau  in  Greek 
resembles  the  Crux  commissa^  this  is  not  at  all  true 
of  the  Phoenicean  Thau.  The  Phoenicean  character 
was  written  in  two  fashions — x  or  +^ — i.e.  in  the 
form  of  St.  Andrew's  cross,  crux  decussata,  or  in  that 
of  the  Greek  cross,  which  is  only  a  variation  of  the 
traditional  cricx  ijiimissa  or  capitata.  Of  the  two 
forms  of  this  letter  the  latter  must  have  been  the 
more  frequently  used,  for  dealing  with  this  question, 
St.  Jerome  remarks  that  '*  among  the  ancient  Hebrew 
letters,  of  which  the  Samaritans  still  make  use,  the 
Thau  has  the  shape  of  a  cross."  ^  Hence  the  mark 
Thau,  which  Ezechiel  saw  on  the  foreheads  of  the  elect, 
may  well  be  none  other  than  the  sign  of  the  traditional 
cross  with  four  ends.^ 

Another  objection  to  the  traditional  view  is  more 
recent.  M.  Cobet,  a  Dutch  philologist,  who  was 
followed  by  several  German  scholars,*  laboured  to 
prove  that  the  crosses  used  in  executions  consisted 

^  Daremberg  and  Saglio^  Dictionary  (art.  Alphabetum). 

"  Antiquis  Hebraeorum  litteris  quibus  usque  hodie  Samaritae 
utuntur,  extrema  Tau  crucis  habet  similitudinem.  In  Ezech.  cap. 
ix.;  P.L.  XXV.     See  the  note  to  col,  88. 

3  Arch,  de  la  Pass.  pp.  l66-l67. 

*  The  bibliography  of  the  question  is  thus  given  by  Martin  (op. 
cit.  p.  283)  :  Cobet,  hi  Chariton  in  the  Zeitschrift  Mnemosyne,  Leyden, 
viii.  275;  Marquardt,  Rom.  Alterth'iim.  VI.  i.  194;  Kipping,  De 
Cruce,  p.  74 ;  Jahn,  Archdologie,  II.  i.  365 ;  Kraus,  Beitrdge  sur 
Trierschen  Archdologie,  Treves,  1868,  p.  64. 


80       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

of  two  pieces  only,  and  this  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
then  very  frequent  crucifixions — firstly,  of  an  upright 
beam  permanently  fixed  in  the  ground,  this  portion 
serving  for  all  crucifixions ;  secondly,  of  a  movable 
cross-beam,  the  crucile,  which  was  made  anew  for 
each  execution.  The  arms  of  the  condemned  were 
fixed  beforehand  to  the  two  ends  of  the  cross-beam, 
and  he  was  then  marched  off  to  the  place  of  execu- 
tion ;  here  the  cross-beam  was  lifted  into  a  groove  in 
the  upright  beam.  A  cross  formed  on  this  system 
would  be  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  T. 

But  this  hypothesis,  invented  two  thousand  years 
after  the  event  it  has  to  explain,  is  anything  but 
probable.  It  has  not  even  been  proved^  that  at 
Rome  the  crux  patibulata  was  exclusively  used,  and 
a  fortiori  it  would  be  more  difficult  to  prove  that  the 
Roman  custom,  if  indeed  it  be  such,  was  followed  in 
Jerusalem. 

At  Rome  slaves  only  were  crucified,  and  they 
suffered  on  the  Sestertium  outside  the  Esquiline  Gate^ 
and  were  executed  by  their  own  special  executioner.^ 
Here  the  gibbets  were  so  numerous  as  to  constitute 
a  regular  forest,  their  great  number  being  the  result 
of  the  bodies  being  left  exposed  until  they  had  been 
devoured  by  the  birds  and  beasts  of  prey.*  In  such 
a  place  it  is  conceivable  that  from  motives  of  ex- 
pediency and  economy  the  uprights  were  fixed  and 
permanent,  and  that  the  cross-beams  only  were  re- 
newed.    But  Jerusalem  was  the  capital  of  a  province 

1  Martin  names  the  following  author  as  having  already  confuted 
this  view : — Zestermann,  Die  Bildliche  Darstellung  des  Kreuzes  nnd 
der  Kreuzigung  Jem  Christi  in  the  Programm  der  Thomasschule. 
Leipsig,  1867. 

2  Tacitus,  Annals,  ii.  32. 

3  Called  the  camifex. 

*  Loiseleur,  Des  peines,  p.  91. 


THE  EARLY  WORSHIP  OF  THE  CROSS    81 

in  which  slavery  as  commonly  understood  was  un- 
known, and  where  the  punishment  in  vogue  was  not 
crucifixion,  but  stoning.  Here  crucifixion,  whether  it 
was  inflicted  by  the  caprice  of  the  governor  on  people 
of  free  condition,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Christ,  in 
order  to  ratify  a  sentence  already  passed  by  the 
Sanhedrim,  was  an  unusual  punishment.  Moreover, 
even  in  the  last  case,  though  the  sentence  was  carried 
out  by  legionaries,  Jewish  usage  again  came  to  the 
fore  when  once  death  had  ensued.  Now  it  will 
be  recollected  that  according  to  the  Sanhedrim  the 
crucified  was  never  to  be  hanged  on  a  tree  holding 
to  the  ground  by  its  roots,  nor  consequently  on  a 
beam  permanently  fixed  in  position,  because  the 
instrument  of  death  was  to  be  buried  together  with 
the  body  on  the  night  following  the  execution.^ 

Moreover,  the  terms  used  by  the  Evangelists  tell 
against  the  hypothesis  just  mentioned.  Matthew 
says ' :  "  And  going  out  they  found  a  man  of  Cyrene, 
named  Simon  ;  him  they  forced  to  take  up  the  cross  of 
Jesus."  Similar  words  are  used  by  Mark,^  and  Luke,* 
and  John  also  agrees  in  this,  that  the  cross  was  carried.^ 
Now  whoever  uses  the  word  cross  means  the  cross 
entire.'^  A  criicUe  is  no  more  a  cross  than  a  flag- 
staff, is  a  flag.  What  Christ  carried  was  the  whole 
cross,  and  it  was  the  cross  whole  and  entire  that  was 
buried  on  Good  Friday.  It  was  a  crux  immissa — i.e. 
with   four   extremities — and  the   crucifix   known  to 

^  See  above,  p.  44.  2  yn  xxvii.  32. 

3  Mk.  XV,  21.  *  Lk.  xxiii.  26. 

^  Jn.  xix.  17. 

6  [In  modern  languages,  especially  in  English,  owing  to  the 
influence  of  ecclesiastical  terms,  this  may  not  be  quite  true.  We 
have  expressions  in  which  "  cross  "  signifies  properly  the  transverse — 
e.g.  "cross-beam" — or  the  adverb  "across."  But  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  this  use  of  the  word  is  comparatively  modern. — Trans. ^ 
F 


82       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

every  Catholic  is  a  form  which  agrees  thoroughly 
with  the  data  of  archaeology. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  the  mistaken  views 
which  at  an  early  date  prevailed  among  the  Christians. 
The  Christians  had  to  be  careful  even  in  the  symbols 
of  which  they  made  use.  The  pagans  not  only 
tortured  them,  they  also  made  use  of  calumny.  One 
great  man,  whose  prejudice  led  him  astray  whenever 
he  ventured  to  discuss  the  Christians — Tacitus — was 
early  in  the  field  to  accuse  them  of  infamous  practices.^ 
Tertullian  specifies  some  of  the  atrocities  with  which 
the  Christians  were  credited.  "  It  is  said  that  in  our 
mysteries  we  slay  and  eat  a  child,  and  that  when  this 
horrid  meal  is  over  we  proceed  to  treat  abusively  our 
own  sisters  and  mothers  as  soon  as  the  dogs  which 
serve  us  in  our  iniquities  have  thrown  down  and 
extinguished  the  torches,  and  by  delivering  us  from 
light  have  also  freed  us  from  shame." - 

It  can  scarcely  be  maintained  that  Tacitus  was  in 
good  faith  when  he  wrote  of  the  Jews  that  during 
their  journey  through  the  wilderness,  when  reduced 
by  thirst,  they  discovered  water  by  following  a  herd  of 
wild  asses,  and  that  in  memory  of  this  event  they 
placed  an  image  of  the  ass  in  their  most  holy  place.^ 
But  this  calumny  which  had  served  for  the  Jews  was 
soon  made  to  serve  for  Christians  also.  At  the  end 
of  the  second  or  beginning  of  the  third  century  a 
caricature  of  Jesus  bearing  the  legend  "  The  God  of 
the  Christians,  the  donkey  tribe,"  was  hawked  about : 

DEUS    CIIRISTIANORUM    ONOKOITHS. 

1  Sed  per  urbem  etiam,  quo  cuncta  undique  atrocia  aut  pudenda 
confluunt  celebranturque.     Annals,  xv.  44. 

2  Apologeticus,  vii.  ;  P.L.  i.  .307. 

3  Effigiera  animalis  quo  monstrante,  errorem  sitimque  depulerant 
penetrali  sacravere.     Hisl.  v.  3,  4. 


THE  EARLY  WORSHIP  OF  THE  CROSS    83 

"  On  it  Christ  is  shown,"  writes  Tertullian,^  "decor- 
ated with  a  donkey's  ears  and  hoofs,  holding  a  book  in 
His  hand,  and  dressed  in  a  toga.  We  laughed  at  the 
inscription  and  the  figure,  and  so  did  others  (the 
Pagans),  though  it  would  have  been  more  in  accord- 
ance with  their  practices  had  they  bent  the  knee  to 
the  monster,  who  after  all  was  quite  good  enough  to 
be  worshipped  by  people  who  do  not  scruple  to  adore 
gods  with  a  lion's  or  a  dog's  head,  or  with  the  horns  of  a 
goat  or  ram,  gods  who  are  partly  goats  and  partly  ser- 
pents, and  who  carry  wings  on  their  back  orontheirfeet."^ 

Such  being  some  of  the  calumnies  to  which  the 
Christians  were  exposed,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
if  they  endeavoured  to  screen  from  the  vulgar  certain 
of  their  tenets,  which  otherwise  would  only  have  given 
rise  to  new  blasphemies.  Through  considerations  of 
prudence  the  Church  abstained  from  depicting  the 
cross  even  in  the  catacombs,  so  much  so  that  de 
Rossi  found  only  one  instance  of  the  use  of  the  Greek 
cross,  the  cross  in  question  being  engraved  on  a 
memorial  stone  in  the  crypt  of  Lucina  beneath  the 
inscription  Rufma  rest  in  peace.^ 

Nevertheless,  the  Christians  were  fond  of  represent- 
ing the  cross  under  various  transparent  disguises. 
They  saw  a  symbol  of  the  cross  in  the  four  points  of 
the  compass,*  in  the  man  who  prays  with  arms  out- 

^  Apol.  xvi.  ;  P.L.  i.  366-374. 

2  Archaeologists  will  find  in  the  Luynes  collection  in  the  French 
National  Museum  an  image  in  baked  clay  which  corresponds  with 
Tertullian's  description,  save  that  in  addition  the  mannikin  wears  a 
mitre.  This  piece  of  work  hails  from  Syria.  See  the  picture  in 
Duruy,  Hist,  dcs  Romains,  vol.  v.  p.  795. 

•^  Roma  Soli,  vol.  ii.  pi.  18.  Duruy,  vol.  vii.  p.  39,  note  1.  North- 
cote  and  Brownlow  (in  the  French  trans.),  p.  298. 

*  Ipsa  species  crucis  quid  est  nisi  forma  quadrata  mundi .''  Jerome, 
In  Marcum,  xv. ;  P.L.  xxx.  638. 


84       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

stretched,^  in  the  swimmer,^  in  the  stock  which  crosses 
the  shank  of  the  anchor,  in  the  yard  which  crosses  the 
mast,^  in  the  bird  flying  heavenward  with  outstretched 
wings,  making  in  its  flight  a  noise  reminding  one  of  a 
whispered  prayer/  The  shaft  of  a  cart,  the  crutched 
handle  of  a  spade  ^  or  the  symbolic  fish  stuck  on  a 
trident,  all  served  to  illustrate  the  cross.  The 
standards  of  the  Roman  regiments  consisted  in  a 
pole  provided  with  a  cross-bar,  on  which  hung  a 
little  red  banner  called  the  vexillum.  At  the  top  of 
the  pole  was  the  eagle  with  outstretched  wings,  called 
the  signum.  It  would  seem  that  the  Christians  actu- 
ally saw  in  these  idols  of  the  legionaries  reproductions 
of  the  crux  ixitibidata,  or  T-shaped  cross.  Thus 
Tertullian  exclaims :  "  By  adoring  the  Victories  you 
adore  the  crosses  which  are  in  the  midst  of  your 
trophies.  What  would  the  legions  not  do  for  their 
standards  ?  They  even  swear  by  these  sacred  '  signs,' 
which  they  consider  as  deities,  more  bountiful  than  all 
the  other  gods  together.  Those  images  with  which 
you  crown  your  standards,  the  banners  with  which  you 
adorn  them,  are  so  many  ornaments  with  which  you  de- 
corate the  Cross."  ^ 

Not  only  had  the  Christians  to  fear  pagan  calumny, 
there  was  also  the  danger  of  a  misunderstanding  aris- 
ing.    The  Romans  worshipped  material  gods — gods 

^  Si  statueris  hominem  manibus  expansis,  imaginem  crucis  feceris. 
Tert.  Ad  naliones ;  P.L.  i.  col,  578. 

2  Homo  natans  per  aquas  .  .  .  forma  crucis  vehitur.  Jerome,  In 
Marc.  XV. 

'  See  above,  p.  78. 

*  Tert.  dc  oratione,  29;  P.L.  i.  11 96. 

^  Justus  Lipsius,  dc  Cruce.     See  plate  on  p.  42  (1870  edition). 

"  Apolog.  xvi.  ;  P.L.  i.  col.  366-368.  Minutius  Felix  upholds  the 
same  view  in  Octavius,  xxix. :  Nam  et  signa  ipsa  et  cantabra  et  vexilla 
castrorum,  quid  aliud  quam  inauratx  cruces  sunt  et  ornatae  ^ 


THE  EARLY  WORSHIP  OF  THE  CROSS    85 

made  of  wood  and  metal.  Now  had  the  faithful 
been  allowed  to  worship  the  image  of  a  cross,  how 
would  it  have  been  possible  to  convince  the  idolators 
that  the  worship  was  not  bestowed  on  the  image,  but 
upon  the  crucified  which  the  image  symbolised  ? 
Tertullian  is  in  such  fear  of  an  occasion  being 
furnished  for  such  a  confusion  that  he  seems  to 
forbid  altogether  the  use  of  crosses  by  Christians.^ 
He  writes  as  follows  : — "  With  regard  to  those  who 
imagine  that  we  worship  the  cross,  they  share  in  our 
idolatry  when  they  venerate  a  piece  of  wood  ;  for  what 
difference  does  it  make  that  the  form  be  other  if  the 
matter  is  the  same,  and  if  this  matter  be  considered 
as  the  body  of  a  god  ?  And  again,  what  difference  is 
there  between  a  cross  and  the  statue  of  the  Athenian 
Pallas,  or  of  Ceres  of  Phares,  which  is  nothing  but  a 
huge  shapeless  hulk  ?  Every  upright  piece  of  wood 
stands  for  a  portion  of  the  cross."  ^ 

We  may  also  believe  that  yet  another  feeling  came 
in  to  hinder  the  Christians  from  making  figures  of  the 
Cross.  The  Church  sprang  originally  from  the  Syna- 
gogue, and  the  faithful  of  the  earliest  period  remained 
steadfast  in  observing  the  customs  of  the  Jews.  The 
Lord  had  said  to  Moses :  "  Thou  shalt  not  make  to 
thyself  a  graven  thing,  nor  the  likeness  of  anything 
that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  in  the  earth  beneath,  nor 
of  those  things  that  are  in  the  waters  under  the  earth. 
Thou  shalt  not  adore  them  nor  serve  them."^  Was 
it  lawful  to  shape  or  "  grave  "  a  cross,  or  to  venerate, 
or  kneel  before,  it  ?  Had  the  old  Law  been  abrogated 
by  the  new,  and  if  so,  to  what  extent  ?     These  were 

1  Apolog. ;  P.L.  i.  366. 

2  [The  passage  which  follows  is  probably  corrupt,  and  its  meaning 
is  anything  but  evident.] 

3  Exodus  XX.  4,  5. 


86       THE   FINDING    OF   THE   CROSS 

not  questions  to  be  answered  ofF-hand ;  and  the 
Christians'  dislike  for  anything  savouring  ever  so 
little  of  idolatry  is  nowhere  better  seen  than  in  the 
Octavms  of  Minutius  Felix.  "  So  far  as  crosses  are 
concerned,  we  neither  worship  nor  desire  them,  whereas 
you  who  make  wooden  gods  may  sometimes  adore  as 
a  part  of  your  gods  the  wood  which  has  served  for 
making  crosses."  ^  Dom  Le  Nourry,  one  of  the  Bene- 
dictine editors  of  the  Ocfavius,  pleads  attenuating 
circumstances  on  behalf  of  his  author.  According  to 
him  Minutius  Felix  would  not  have  spoken  as  he  did 
had  he  had  before  him  a  portion  of  the  True  Cross, 
which  was  as  yet  hidden.  He  also  strives  to  explain 
away  the  force  of  the  words  ci'uces  .  .  .  ncc  optaitnis, 
which  betakes  as  meaning:  "We  do  not  seek  crucifixion, 
but  if  we  are  crucified  we  suffer  cheerfully."  ^'  But  this 
explanation  seems  to  us  ingenious  rather  than  true. 
Minutius  Felix  used  expressions  which  are  not  in 
agreement  with  the  present  practice  of  the  Church, 
but  which  are  quite  pardonable  in  an  early  Christian 
writer,  whose  main  object  was  to  show  how  idealistic 
our  worship  really  is. 

But  in  other  directions  the  Christians  considered 
themselves  more  free.  The  Jews,  in  spite  of  their 
rigorism,  did  not  consider  that  the  prohibition  of 
graven  images  extended  to  writing.  They  were 
accustomed  to  tie  against  their  forehead  and  on  their 
left  arm  little  lockets  containing  phylacteries — i.e. 
strips  of  parchment  on  which  were  written  favourite 
extracts  from  their  sacred  Scriptures.  The  Christians 
followed  them  in  making  use  of  the  pen  for  expressing 

1  Cruces  etiam  nee  colimus  nee  optamus.  Vos  plane  qui  ligneos 
deos  eonsecratis,  cruees  ligneas,  ut  deorum  vestroruin  partes  forsitan 
adoratis.     Octavius,  xxix. ;  P.L.  iii.  col.  332. 

2  P.L.  iii.  col.  532. 


THE  EARLY  WORSHIP  OF  THE  CROSS    87 

externally  the  signs  of  their  faith.  For  this  purpose 
they  used  monograms.  One  form,  which  seems  to 
have  been  a  general  favourite,  was  the  combination 
of  the  two  Greek  letters  X  and  P,  giving  the  mono- 
gram J.  The  Abbe  Martigny  thus  sums  up  its 
history  ^ :  "  St.  Ephrem,  who  lived  in  the  fourth 
century,  bears  witness  that  this  form  of  the  mono- 
gram was  much  used  in  the  East.  It  also  seems  to 
have  been  the  only  form  known  in  Egypt."  He  adds 
that  the  faithful  adopted  this  sign  from  the  pagans, 
doubtless  because,  on  the  one  hand,  it  contained  the 
first  letters  of  Christ's  name,  and  also  because,  being 
a  pagan  sign,  it  would  not  serve  to  betray  the 
Christians. 

However,  M.  Martigny  seems  to  have  made  a 
slight  mistake  in  the  above.  The  early  Christians 
imitated  this  pagan  monogram,  but,  in  the  first 
instance  at  least,  they  did  not  exactly  copy  it. 
They  sought  a  sign  which  should  be  peculiar  to 
themselves,  and  they  found  it  by  combining  the  letters 
X  and  I.  Consequently  in  their  monogram  we  find 
I  in  the  place  of  P.  The  X  was  kept  because  it 
showed  the  form  of  the  crux  decussata  or  St.  Andrew's 
cross.  Thus  in  the  monogram  ]|l,  Christ's  two  Greek 
initials  were  expressed  (IH20YC  XPI2TOC).  The 
most  ancient  instance  of  this  monogram  occurs  on  a 
tombstone  belonging  to  a.d.  268  or  279.^ 

The  so-called  monogram  of  Constantine  is  the 
second  to  appear,  but  in  spite  of  the  name  by  which 
it  is  known,  it  goes  far  back ;  in  fact,  it  is  merely  a 
restoration  of  the  old  pagan  form  mentioned  by  St. 
Ephrem.  As  we  said,  it  is  composed  of  the  Greek 
letters  X  and  P,  forming  J,  a  monogram  which  gives 

^  Diet,  des  antiq.  chret.  (art.  Monogramme  du  Christ),  p.  476. 
2  Northcote  and  Brownlow  (in  the  French  trans.,  p.  299). 


88       THE    FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  first  two  letters  of  the  word  Christ  (XPI2T0C). 
This  monogram  is  usually  found  between  the  first 
and  last  characters  of  the  Greek  alphabet,  A  and  0, 
the  alpha  and  omega  which  symbolise  the  beginning 
and  end  of  all  things. 

After  having  served  on  monuments,  this  monogram 
entered  the  home,  and  soon  became  an  equivalent  of 
the  modern  scapular.  "  There  were  pious  people," 
writes  Mgr.  Gerbet,  "  who  wore  it  round  their  necks. ^ 
Medals  which  have  been  worn  are  necessarily  pierced 
by  a  hole,  through  which  the  string  or  chain  may  be 
passed.  Such  medals  have  been  found ;  that  men- 
tioned by  Aringhi "  is  made  of  brass,  and  bears  Christ's 
monogram.^  Though  it  is  circular  in  shape,  the  top 
is  shown  by  the  head  of  the  letter  P.  It  is  at  this 
spot  that  the  medal  is  pierced.  It  was  found  in  a 
martyr's  tomb,  and  appears  to  belong  to  an  age  not 
later  than  that  of  Diocletian." 

But  though  the  monogram  was  in  use  at  the  end 
of  the  third  century,  this  is  not  true  of  the  cross, 
which  was  not  to  be  publicly  represented  until  after 
the  finding  of  the  True  Cross.  How  the  change  came 
about  we  cannot  say,  nor  at  what  date  the  cross  began 
to  appear  on  the  altars  and  on  the  front  of  the  churches. 
According  to  the  popular  view  no  one  had  any  longer 
any  thought  of  the  cross,  when  suddenly  by  a  miracle 
it  made  its  appearance  in  the  skies  before  the  startled 
eyes  of  Constantine  and  his  army.  As  soon  as  its 
shape  was  known  Constantine,  moved  by  grace,  pro- 
cured to  be  made  a  standard,  called  the  Labarum, 
which  was  in  the  form  of  the  cross,  and  which  hence- 
forth was  carried  in  front  of  the  legions.     With  the 

^  Esquisse  de  Rome  chritienne,  vol.  ii.  p.  21 6, 
2  Roma  subl.  l)k.  vi.  cap.  23,  vol.  ii.  p.  567. 
2  i.e.  the  so-called  monogram  of  Constantine. 


THE  EARLY  WORSHIP  OF  THE  CROSS    89 

help  of  Providence  he  gained  his  victory,  and  assumed 
the  purple.  In  the  meantime  Helena,  the  mother  of 
Constantine,  looking  on  the  vision  as  a  command  to 
restore  the  True  Cross  to  light,  and  moved  by  divers 
other  divine  admonitions,  hastened  to  Jerusalem,  had 
a  deep  hole  dug  into  the  ground,  and  there  had  the 
happiness  of  finding  the  long-forgotten  Cross  of  Christ. 
St.  Helena's  life  is  so  closely  bound  up  with  the 
worship  of  the  cross  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  cast 
a  glance  at  her  history.  We  must  clear  away  what 
is  legendary,  and  bring  to  light  what  is  true  among 
the  many  interesting  details  which  form,  as  it  were, 
the  preface  to  the  Finding  of  the  Cross. 


CHAPTER  III 

ST.  HELENA.  THE  LABARUM 
1.  THE  EARLIER  PORTION  OP^  HELEN a's  LIFE 

St.  Helena  was  born  in  248,  the  year  in  which  Rome 
kept  the  thousandth  anniversary  of  its  foundation. 
Three  cities  fight  for  the  glory  of  having  furnished 
her  her  birthplace.^  York  and  Colchester  base  their 
claim  on  an  obscure  and  dubious  passage  of  a  pane- 
gyric preached  before  Constantine  and  JNlaximian  by 
an  unknown  orator  ^ ;  Treves  relies  on  the  anything 
but  reliable  document  which  does  service  as  the  title 
of  the  Holy  Coat ;  in  point  of  fact,  St.  Helena  was 
born  at  Drepane,  a  little  seaport  near  Nicomedia  in 
Bithynia,  lying  at  the  entrance  of  the  Astacinus  Gulf 
opposite  Byzantium.  Procopius,  writing  in  the  fifth 
century,  states  that  "in  Bithynia  there  is  a  town 
which  bears  the  name  of  Helena,  the  mother  of  the 
Emperor  Constantine.  It  is  said  that  Helena  was 
born  there  at  a  time  when  the  place  was  but  a  village, 
and  that  Constantine,  in  memory  of  his  mother's  child- 
hood, raised  it  to  the  rank  of  a  city."^  Procopius 
indeed  forgets  to  name  the  city  in  question  ;  but 
this  point  is  cleared  up  by  St.  Jerome,  who  says : 
"  Constantine,  when  restoring  Drepane,  a  city  of 
Bithynia,  in  honour  of  the  martyr  Lucian,  who  was 

1  Seethe  texts  in  Ada  SS.      18th  August.     De  S.  Helena  vidua 
imperalrice. 

'^  Incerti  panegyr. ;  P.L.  viii.     This  view  lias  been  ably  refuted  by 
Toupin,  Hist,  de  S.  Heli-ne,  p.  309. 

3  Procopius,  de  Mdi/iciis,  v.  2. 

90 


THE   EARLIER   LIFE   OF   HELENA    91 

buried  there,  gave  it  his  mother's  name,  and  called  it 
Helenopolis,"^  Cassiodorus  confirms  the  testimony 
of  Procopius  and  St.  Jerome.^ 

The  child  received  the  names  of  Flavia,  Julia, 
Helena.^  We  can  afford  to  smile  when  Baronius* 
and  certain  English  authors  make  her  out  to  be  a 
descendant  of  the  British  king  Coel,^  or  when  Valois 
states  that  she  belonged  to  the  gens  Julia  founded 
by  iEneas.*^  On  the  contrary,  she  seems  to  have  been 
of  humble  stock ;  in  fact,  to  have  been  the  daughter 
of  an  innkeeper  at  Drepane.^  St.  Ambrose,  who 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  imperial  family,  thrice 
describes  the  empress  thus :  "  The  good  hostess, 
stabularia,  who  at  such  great  pain  seeks  the  stable  of 
the  Lord.  The  good  hostess,  who  preferred  to  be 
despised  that  she  might  gain  Christ.  That  is  why 
God  drew  her  from  her  low  position  and  raised  her 
to  the  empire."^ 

At  the  age  of  twenty-five  she  was  still  looking 
after  her  father's  business.^  We  still  have  some 
knowledge  of  her  appearance  about  this  period.  As  a 
frontispiece  to  his  work,  M.  Lucot  ^°  gives  an  illustra- 
tion of  a  splendid  medal,  which  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  Here  Helena,  though  already  Augusta^  is 
represented  with  the  features  of  a  woman  about  thirty 

^  Jerome,  Chronicon,  an.  330  ;  P.L.  xxvii.  col.  675. 
^  Cassiod.  Historia,  ii.  18  ;  P.L.  Ixix.  col.  936. 
^  According   to  the  bronze  coins  studied    by  de  Witte.     Revue 
numismatique,  1843,  p.  101. 
*  Annals,  anno  306. 
■''  Acta  SS.  loc.  cit. 
^  Duruy,  Hist,  des  Romains,  vol.  i.  p.  60. 

7  Ambrose,  De  obitu  Theodosii;  P.L.  xvi.  col.  1399. 

8  Loc.  cit. 

^  Nicephorus  Callistus,  H.E.  viii. ;  P.G.  cxlvi.  11;  Ambrose, 
loc.  cit. 

10  Sainte  Helene  mere  de  I'empereur  Constantin,      Paris:   Plon,  1873. 


92       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

years  old.  This  might  lead  one  to  suppose  that  the 
head  is  a  fancy  one,  but  when  we  note  the  curious 
resemblance  between  her  features  as  shown  here,  and 
those  of  Constantine  as  shown  in  his  statues  and 
medals,  we  can  see  that  the  artist  confined  himself 
to  making  his  model  appear  younger  than  she  was. 

The  profile  belongs  to  a  very  pure  Greek  type. 
The  head,  which  is  encircled  by  a  band,  is  elegant, 
intelligent,  and  refined.  In  her  eyes  we  see  firmness, 
quietude,  and  energy.  M.  Lucot  especially  admires 
her  thin,  tightened  lips,  which  show  that  she  was 
accustomed  to  make  herself  obeyed.  The  obverse 
depicts  Helena  with  an  infant  on  her  left  arm,  whilst 
with  her  right  hand  she  is  giving  a  fruit  to  a  naked 
boy.^  Though  rather  short  in  stature,  she  appears 
well  built.  Looking  at  her  portrait  we  can  under- 
stand that  a  woman  of  such  a  stamp,  though  doubt- 
less flattered  and  sought  after  by  men,  cared  but 
little  for  the  vain  pleasures  commonly  desired  by 
her  sex. 

The  saint's  chaste  romance  began  in  273.  Helena 
was  twenty-five  when  there  came  to  Drepane  a  young 
commanding  officer,  who  was  two  years  her  junior, 
Constantius,  surnamed  Chlorus — i.e.  the  pale-faced.^ 
Constantius  was  born  in  250,  and  was  the  son  of  the 
Dardanian  Eutropius  and  of  Claudia,  niece  of  the 
Emperor  Claudius  II.,  the  Gothic.  He  was  made 
an  officer  of  the  praetorian  guards,  and  rapidly  rose 
to  a  higher  rank.  When  he  came  to  Drepane  he  had 
just  finished  a  war  against  Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmyra. 
He  was  known  to  be  somewhat  fastidious,  but  well 
educated,  and  amiable  in  his  ways.^     His  small  fortune 

1  The  superscription  is  Pietas  Augusta. 

2  "Yellow"  would  be  a  more  correct,  if  less  elegant,  rendering 
of  Chlorus.  ^  Duruy,  vol.  vi.  p.  543. 


THE   EARLIER   LIFE   OF   HELENA    93 

had  earned  him  the  nickname  of  the  Pauper.^  At  a 
time  when  Hcence  reigned  everywhere  supreme,  his 
chastity  was  considered  so  remarkable  that  the  un- 
known author  of  the  panegyric,  read  before  Constantine 
and  Maximian,  set  him  up  as  an  example  on  which  it 
would  not  be  possible  to  improve.^  His  understanding 
was  in  no  way  overclouded  by  passions,  but  hung  in 
that  intermediate  region  between  naturalism  and 
faith  which  has  been  called  spiritualism.  Eusebius  of 
Cfesarea  states  that  "  he  admitted  the  existence  of  one 
sole  God,  and  loathed  the  impiety  of  those  who  wor- 
shipped idols."  ^  Had  he  espoused  a  believer  he  would 
probably  have  become  a  convert  to  Christianity. 

Nicephorus  Callistus  states  that  Constantius  Chlorus 
came  to  Drepane  at  the  head  of  a  brilliant  embassy ; 
that  Diocletian  had  sent  him  to  make  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  the  barbarians  of  anterior  Asia ;  *  that 
both  Helena  and  her  father  were  as  dazzled  by  the 
splendour  of  his  retinue  as  Constantius  by  the  beauty 
of  Helena ;  that  Constantius  assured  the  father  of 
his  safety,  gave  the  young  woman  an  embroidered 
robe  edged  with  the  imperial  purple,  and  that 
immediately  the  girl  was  his.^ 

With  a  little  criticism  Nicephorus,  a  Byzantine 
monk  of  the  fourteenth  century,  might  have  saved 
himself  from  writing  such  a  farrago  of  nonsense  as  the 
above.  In  273  Aurelian,  not  Diocletian,  was  emperor. 
Helena  was  then  a  woman,  not  a  girl,  as  she  is  here 
represented.  Constantius  was  an  officer,  not  a  diplo- 
matist, and  his  business  was  to  fight,  not  to  make 

1  A.  de  Broglie,  Constmitin,  vol.  i.  p.  188,  This  writer  gives  as 
his  references  Claud,  cap.  iii. ; — Suidas,  voce  Travirep. 

2  Incerti  panegyricus ',  P.L.  viii,  6lOff. 

^  Eus.  de  Vita  Constantini,  i.  17 ;  P.G.  xx.  933. 
*  Nic.  Cal.  H.E.  viii.  2;  P.G.  cxlvi.  11. 
'  Ibid. 


94       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

treaties.  In  other  words,  we  must  strike  out  from 
the  above  account  the  embassy,  the  retinue,  and 
consequently  also  the  mutual  surprise  of  the  parties ; 
in  other  words,  the  whole  account  may  be  dismissed 
as  worthless. 

Another  monk,  Berengosus,  tells  us  that  Helena 
and  Constantius  first  met  at  the  inn.  With  charming 
naivete  he  adds :  "  Constantius  loved  the  blessed 
virgin  Helena  on  account  of  her  very  great  beauty."  ^ 
But  it  is  scarcely  probable  that  the  two,  whose 
prudence  and  high-mindedness  we  know,  should  have 
thus  struck  up  their  acquaintance. 

We  may  now  state  our  own  hypothesis,  taking 
into  account  all  the  data  we  have  at  our  disposal : 
the  campaign  of  273,  Constantius  staying  at  a  poor 
inn,  his  chastity,  and  the  beauty  and  dignity  of  the 
woman.  Drepane,  in  a  sense,  might  be  said  to  lie 
on  the  road  from  Palmyra  to  Rome,  though  really  its 
only  attraction  is  that  of  any  little  seaside  bathing 
resort.  It  may  be  assumed  that  Constantius,  on  his 
way  back  from  the  expedition  against  Zenobia,  came 
to  the  inn  at  Drepane  to  restore  his  health,  which  had 
suffered  either  from  wounds  or  from  the  fatigues  of 
the  journey.  Here  he  felt  the  charm  of  the  bodily 
beauty  and  of  the  pure  soul  of  Helena.  Considering 
that  he  could  never  be  happy  apart  from  this  young 
woman  he,  like  any  man  of  honour,  offered  the  poor 
provincial  girl  his  hand  and  a  share  in  the  fortune  to 
which,  as  an  emperor's  nephew,  he  had  a  claim. 

We  now  reach  a  certain  hotly  contested  question. 
Roman  matrimonial  custom  sanctioned  two  usages : 
there  was,  of  course,  the  jiistcc  nnptuc  or  real  legal 
marriage  ;  but  besides  this  there  was  an  inferior  state, 
the  marriage  according  to  the  natural  law,  then 
^  Berengosus,  De  Inventione  Crucis,  iii.  1  ;  P.L.  clx.  965. 


THE   EARLIER   LIFE   OF   HELENA    95 

commonly  called  concubinage,  but  in  reality  cor- 
responding with  that  we  now  term  a  morganatic 
marriage  ;  marriage  relations  between  unmarried  folk 
went  by  the  name  of  stupruni.  A  woman  united  to 
a  man  by  the  second  species  of  union  was  described 
as  concubina,  arnica,  convictrix ;  she  did  not  bear  the 
name  of  matron,  nor  did  she  share  her  husband's  titles  ; 
he  was  hers  only  quoad  mensam  et  tliorum}  There 
was  no  settlement  to  protect  the  fortune  of  the 
woman,  nor  was  there  any  written  agreement.  The 
child  of  such  a  union,  nothus,  was  a  natural  child,  and 
though  his  father  was  known,  he  had  no  right  of 
succession.  This  concubinage  was  recognised  and 
tolerated  by  the  law,  and  implied  no  slur  on  a  woman's 
character."^ 

The  law  of  the  Twelve  Tables  forbade  marriage 
between  patricians  and  plebeians.  This  prohibition 
had  indeed  fallen  by  the  Canuleia  enactment ;  but 
public  feeling  was  stronger  than  the  letter  of  the  law, 
and  allowed  of  no  infringements.  Hence  concubinage 
was  popular.  It  was  in  the  interests  of  plebeian  women 
that  they  should  accept  this  modus  vivendi,  which 
allowed  of  their  being  united  with  the  noblemen  they 
loved. 

Had  Roman  law  forbidden  divorce,  then  indeed 
between  the  state  of  legal  marriage  and  concubinage 
there  would  have  been  a  vast  difference  ;  but  we  must 
remember  that  separation  of  the  spouses  could  occur 
in  both  states,  and  that  the  only  distinction  made 
between  the  two  forms  of  union  was  that,  whilst  a 
matron  could  only  be  dismissed  by  the  presentation 
of  the  Uhellum  repudii,  duly  registered  by  the  public 

^  Troplong,  Injluences  de  christianisme  sur  le  droit  romain,  pp.  238- 
240. 

"^  Paul,  i,  144.     De  verb,  signific. 


96       THE   FINDING   OF   THE    CROSS 

notary,  a  simple  concubine  could  be  dismissed  with- 
out any  such  formality. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  legal  concubinage  was  a  better 
institution  than  its  name,  which  now  bears  an  odious 
meaning,  would  imply  ;  and  the  Church,  who  scorned 
legal  subtleties,  treated  concubinage  as  real  marriage 
when  cases  of  conscience  arose.  "  He  who  has  no 
wife  but  a  concubine  whom  he  treats  as  a  wife  shall 
not  be  excluded  from  communion,"  so  runs  a  canon 
enacted  by  the  Council  of  Toledo,  a.d.  400,^  and  re- 
enacted  by  the  Councils  of  Mainz  (851)  and  of  Tibur 
(895).- 

It  was  to  this  inferior  sort  of  union  that  Helena 
resigned  herself.^  Zosimus  states  that  "  Constantine 
was  born  of  a  woman  of  humble  estate  who  had  not 
been  j  oined  in  wedlock  with  the  Emperor  Constantius. "  * 
He  says  again  of  Constantine  that  "  he  was  brought 
into  the  world  by  a  ivoman,  not  by  a  matron."^ 

M.  Toupin  ^  waxes  wroth  with  what  he  terms  an 
infamous  insinuation  concocted  by  a  pagan ;  but  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  Zosimus  wrote  in  the  fifth 
century,  and  that  in  his  eyes  the  inferior  married 
state  was  not  immoral ;  moreover,  he  does  no  more 
than  repeat  what  other  good  chroniclers  had  said 
before.     Eusebius,  for  instance,  who  died  in  338,  and 

^  Council  of  Toledo,  canon  xviii.  Cp.  Capilulare  Pippini,  an.  793, 
cap  .34  (Baluze,  i.  540);  Capitulariiim,  lib.  vii.  59;  Bal.  i.  1039- 
Concubinage  in  the  Theodosian  Code  is  described  as  cotijugium 
imvqualc  ;  in  the  Justinian  Code  as  licita  cojtsuefiido.  [See  a  curious 
instance  in  AUard,  Te7i  Lectures  on  the  Martyrs,  London :  Kegan 
Paul,  1907,  p.  191  ff.— Trans.'] 

-  Duruy,  op.  cif.  vol.  vi.  p.  544,  note. 

2  De  Broglie,  Constantin,  vol.  i.  p.  189,  note  1. 

*  Zosimus,  Hist,  ii,  8. 

^Zosimus,  Hist.  ii.  9. 

^  Hist,  de  sainte  Helcne,  note  c,  p.  319. 


THE   EARLIER  LIFE   OF   HELENA    97 

was  a  contemporary,  in  fact  a  friend,  of  the  emperor, 
states  frankly  that  "  Constantine  was  brought  forth 
by  the  concubine  Helena."  ^  Eutropius,  a  former 
secretary  of  Constantine,  speaks  likewise  of  "  Con- 
stantine, whom  Constantius  had  begotten  in  an  inferior 
union."  ^  St.  Ambrose,  with  greater  delicacy,  says  that 
St.  Helena  "still  kept  the  inn  when  she  first  had 
relations  with  Constantius,  her  master.'''  ^  The  Bishop 
of  Milan  avoids  making  use  of  the  words  "  marriage  " 
and  "husband,"  for  which  reason  the  Benedictine 
fathers,  who  edited  his  works,  came  to  the  decision 
that  Helena  and  Constantius  were  not  joined  in 
lawful  wedlock.*  Lastly,  the  Alexandrian  Chronicle 
describes  Constantine  as  a  natural  child. 

In  spite  of  these  decisive  texts  the  Bollandists  and 
M.  Toupin  will  have  it  that  there  was  a  legal  marriage. 
They  point  to  the  words  used  by  Julian  the  Apostate 
(in  the  Acts  of  the  martyr  Artemius) :  "  We  it  was 
that  should  have  ascended  the  throne.  My  father 
was  the  son  of  Constantius  Chlorus  and  Theodora, 
whereas  Constantine  was  the  child  of  a  previous 
marriage  with  Helena,  a  woman  of  low  condition, 
scarcely  more  than  a  harlot."^  But  this  text  goes 
against  those  who  use  it,  for  Julian  claims  his  right 
of  succession  against  the  descendants  of  his  grand- 
father's first  marriage.  In  other  words,  he  implicitly 
states  that  the  children  of  this  first  marriage  had  no 
legal  standing,  because  it  was  not  a  marriage  at  all 
in  the  legal  sense. 

1  Constantinus  ex  concubina  Helena  procreatus.  Quoted  in 
Acta  SS.     18th  August.     De  S.  Helena. 

2  Brev.  Hist.  Rom.  x.  2. 

3  Stabulariam  banc  primo  fuisse  asserunt  sic  cognitam  Constantio 
seniori.     De  Obitu  Theodosii;  P.L.  xvi.  1399- 

*  Op.  S.  Ambrosii,  vol.  ii.  p.  1210. 

5  Vix  non  scorto.    Acta  SS.    20th  October.     De  S.  Artemio  Martyre. 


08       THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Those  who  defend  Helena's  marriage  also  bring 
forward  a  panegyric  in  which  Eumenius  speaks  of 
Constantine  as  "his  father's  lawful  successor,"^  and 
an  inscription  on  a  monument  at  Naples,  which  is 
dedicated  to  "  Our  right  pious  and  most  clement 
sovereign  Helena,  Augusta  .  .  .  spouse  of  the  divine 
Constantius."^ 

But  such  pieces  of  official  adulation  are  worthless 
for  our  purpose.  Who  would  have  been  so  im- 
pertinent as  to  parade  before  the  world  the  private 
scandals  of  the  imperial  family,  or  have  the  boldness 
to  inscribe  them  on  a  public  monument,  or  to  speak 
of  them  in  a  panegyric  ? 

On  the  authority  of  the  preface  to  the  Arabic 
canons  of  the  Nicene  Council,  some  historians  ^  have 
seen  fit  to  state  of  Helena  that  she  was  born  a 
Christian.  Theodoretus*  likewise  praises  her  for 
having  worshipped  God  all  her  life  ;  but  Eusebius, 
who  knew  the  emperor  so  well,  ascribes  to  Con- 
stantine the  conversion  of  his  mother  in  her  old  age.^ 
The  Bollandists  on  this  point  agree  with  Eusebius. 
Had  Helena  been  a  Christian  in  273  she  would  not 
have  consented  to  being  united  with  Constantius 
in  the  inferior  married  state,*^  nor  would  she  have 
allowed   her  children  to  be  brought  up  as  pagans. 

1  Panegi/ricus ;  P.L.  viii.  625. 

2  Gruterus,  Inscriptiones  atitiqiice,  p.  1086.  It  may  also  be  found 
in  the  Acta  SS.      18th  August. 

^  Darras,  Hist,  gcncrale  de  VEglise,  vol.  ix.  p.  1 0  ;  Toupin,  op.  cit. 
p.  311. 

^H.EA.ll;  P.G.  Ixxxii.  957. 

^  Eus.  de   Vita  Constantini,  iii.  ;  P.G.  xx.  1108. 

"  [This,  as  it  stands,  is  incorrect.  See  Allard,  Ten  Lectures  on  the 
Mar(yr^  (English  trans,),  p.  191  ff.  She  would,  however,  have  been 
hindered  from  marrying  Constantius  by  the  law  then  in  force 
against  mixed  marriages.] 


THE   EARLIER   LIFE   OF   HELENA    99 

Had  she  been  a  Christian  she  would,  almost  certainly, 
have  effected  the  conversion  of  Constantius,  having 
regard  to  the  sterling  qualities  of  the  latter.  No, 
the  probabilities  stand  for  the  contrary  supposition. 
In  all  likelihood  it  was  Constantius  who  began  in  her 
the  work  which  finally  led  to  her  conversion.  From 
him  she  may  have  learnt  that  the  gods  of  her  fathers 
only  stood  for  symbols  of  nature,  and  sometimes  too 
of  human  vices  ;  that  the  real  Ruler  of  the  world 
was  an  invisible  Spirit,  which  pervades  the  whole 
universe.  Little  by  little,  in  this  wise,  we  can  con- 
ceive of  her  being  led  to  know  that  Unknown  God 
whom  St.  Paul  had  preached  at  Athens. 

Constantius  seems  to  have  taken  Helena  with  him 
to  Naissus  in  Dardania  or  Troad,  where  was  his  family 
seat,  and  there  Constantine  was  born  on  18th  February 
274.^  Possibly  he  was  not  with  the  young  woman 
at  the  time  of  her  confinement,^  for  we  find  him  in 
that  same  year  leading  the  Roman  armies  to  their 
victory  at  Windisch  over  the  AUemani,  who  had 
invaded  the  empire  and  pushed  their  way  as  far  as 
Umbria.  For  eighteen  years  he  lived  faithful  to  the 
feelings  of  a  husband  and  a  father.  He  alone  re- 
mained true  to  his  love,  whilst  all  around  him  legally 
contracted  patrician  marriages  were  being  dissolved. 
He  had  become  known  as  one  of  Rome's  best 
generals  ;  and  had  his  character  been  less  noble  he 
would  certainly  have  set  about  contracting  a  marriage 
in  law  with  some  patrician  heiress ;  but  such  was  his 
stamp  of  mind  that  he  preferred  to  all  others  the 
poor  girl  he  had  first  loved,  and  in  whose  society 
alone  he  found  happiness.     Diocletian  had  given  him 

1  De  Broglie,  Constantin,  vol,  i.  p.  188. 

2  See   in  Nicephor.   Callist.    H.E.   viii.   2,  the   tale  he  tells   of 
a  wonder  which  attended  Constantine's  conception. 


100     THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

orders  to  repel  the  Sarmatians,  who  were  laying 
waste  the  Chersonesus.  He  carried  out  these  in- 
structions, and  had  just  returned  as  a  conqueror  to 
his  home,  when  there  came  an  imperial  message,  which, 
with  all  its  munificence,  spelt  the  ruin  of  the  homely 
life  which  he  had  lived  so  long. 

2.    THE   YOUTH    OF    CONSTANTINE 

Diodes,  the  son  of  a  former  slave,  and  himself  a 
mere  adventurer,  but  for  all  that  a  man  of  great 
power  of  will,  when  he  had  assumed  the  purple  under 
the  name  of  Diocletian  understood  plainly  that  he 
would  not  be  able  to  govern  all  by  himself  the  great 
Roman  world.  Accordingly  (1st  May  286),  he 
associated  to  himself  Maximian,  another  soldier,  such 
as  he  had  been  ;  but  to  show  that  he  intended  being 
the  predominant  partner,  and  by  way  of  proving  his 
devotion  to  Jupiter,  he  took  the  name  of  Jovian, 
whilst  to  Maximian  he  gave  that  of  Hercules.  In 
the  event,  the  burden  of  the  empire  proved  too  great 
even  for  two,  and  the  sovereigns  were  later  on  driven 
to  establish  what  has  since  been  called  the  tetrachy. 
They  assumed  the  title  of  Augusti,  Diodes  keeping 
for  himself  the  East,  and  settling  at  Nicomedia ; 
Maximian  Hercules  taking  charge  of  the  West,  with 
Milan  as  his  headquarters ;  but  each  one  chose  an 
associate  as  his  lieutenant,  the  latter  bearing  the  title 
of  Caesar,  and  possessing  the  right  of  succeeding  the 
Augustus  to  whom  he  acted  as  subordinate.  Heredi- 
tary succession  was  abolished,  and  Rome  having  be- 
come too  hot  for  its  rulers,  remained  the  capital  of 
the  empire  only  in  name.  The  new  constitution  was 
proclaimed  on  1st  March  292.  Diodes  appointed 
Galerius  as  Caesar,  whilst  Constantius   Chlorus   was 


THE   YOUTH   OF   CONSTANTINE     101 

notified  of  his  nomination  as  Ctesar  to  Maximian  ; 
he  was  to  take  up  his  residence  at  Treves,  and  to  see 
to  the  administration  of  Gaul  and  Great  Britain. 
His  post  was,  therefore,  the  frontier  post,  the  place  of 
danger  and  of  honour,  for  it  was  the  northern  frontiers 
particularly  that  were  threatened  by  the  rising- 
tide  of  the  barbarians  issuing  from  the  depths  of 
Germany. 

But  at  this  period  political  promotions  required 
certain  precautionary  measures,  which  it  was  usual 
to  disguise  under  the  pretence  of  friendship.  Diodes, 
knowing  the  great  love  of  Constantius  for  his  son, 
gave  out  that  he  himself  would  undertake  the  boy's 
education  ;  in  other  words,  that  he  intended  keeping 
the  youngster  as  a  hostage  at  Nicomedia.  Nor  was 
this  Diocletian's  only  measure :  he  also  insisted  that 
the  two  Ca3sars  should  dismiss  their  wives,  in  order 
that  Galerius  might  espouse  his  (Diocletian's)  daughter 
Valeria,  and  that  Constantius  Chlorus  might  marry 
Flavia  Maxima  Theodora,  Maximian's  daughter-in- 
law.^  His  hope  was  that  the  Caesars  by  thus  becoming 
sons-in-law  to  the  Augusti  would  respect  the  crown 
and  the  lives  of  their  wives'  fathers.  The  offer  was 
made  in  so  imperative  a  tone  ^  that  there  would  have 
been  danger  in  refusing  it,  so  there  being  nothing 
else  to  do,  Constantius  Chlorus  was  compelled  to  put 
away  the  woman  of  his  heart  and  be  wedded  to 
Theodora. 

St.  Helena  concealed  her  grief  and  disgrace  so  well, 
and  her  retreat  from  the  scene  was  so  dignified  and 
complete,  that  historians  are  driven  to  all  kinds  of 
expedients  to  account  for  her  disappearance.  Nearly 
all  the  suggestions  which  they  have  made  are  open  to 

^  Aurelius  Victor,  de  Cces.  in  Diocletian. 
2  Eutropius,  Hist.  Rom.  ix. 


102     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

criticism.  The  BoUandists  speak  of  a  tradition,^  ac- 
cording to  which  she  went  to  hve  in  the  Belgian 
province.  We  are  told  that  Hesdin  owes  its  name 
to  her.-  In  the  seventeenth  century  some  ruins  at 
Bonn  were  still  pointed  out  as  those  of  her  castle. 
An  English  historian  ^  surmises  that  she  actually  went 
to  Treves,  where  Constantius  built  her  a  palace.  Had 
he  done  so,  by  bringing  his  divorced  wife  into  his 
province  he  would  have  laid  himself  open  to  the 
suspicion  of  adultery.  Nicephorus  Callistus  seems 
better  inspired  when  he  states  that  Constantius  merely 
saw  that  the  position  of  his  first  wife  was  made 
secure,  and  then  left  her  where  she  would  not  have 
to  fear  the  jealousy  of  his  second  wife,  nor  suffer 
from  any  want.*  As  Constantine  was  a  ward  of 
Diocletian's  it  seems  probable  that  Helena  stayed 
near  him,  he  being  the  only  creature  whom  she  was 
still  allowed  to  love.  A  mother  would  not  willingly 
leave  a  child  who  is  being  kept  as  a  hostage. 

According  to  Lactantius,  Diocletian  had  a  mania 
for  building,  and  sought  to  make  of  Nicomedia  a  rival 
of  Rome.^  The  emperor,  when  he  had  conceived 
the  wish  of  constructing  a  palace,  a  circus,  a  mint, 
an  arsenal,  and  houses  for  his  wife  and  daughter, 
proceeded  to  expel  the  people  out  of  entire  districts 
of  the  city,  the  result  being  that  the  place,  all  deserted 
and  demolished,  soon  put  on  the  appearance  of  a  city 
which  had  been  taken  by  storm.  At  the  beginning 
of  his  reign  he  was  tolerant  enough,  and  gave  complete 
freedom  to  the  Christians.     "  The  emperors,"  writes 

1  Ada  SS.     18th  August.     5.  Helena,  cap.  iv. 

2  Helense  dunum. 

3  Alford,  Brit,  illust.  an.  292. 

4  Niceph.  Call.  H.E.  viii.  2;  P.G.  cxlvi.  14. 
^  De  morte  persecutorum  vii. ;  P.L.  vii.  205. 


THE   YOUTH   OF   CONSTANTINE     103 

Eusebius  of  Cassarea,  "  gave  to  several  of  the  faithful 
the  post  of  provincial  governors,  without  demanding 
of  them  that  they  should  sacrifice  to  the  gods.  They 
allowed  officers  to  worship  publicly  with  their  wives 
and  children  and  slaves,  even  when  the  princes  them- 
selves were  present ;  bishops  were  in  honour,  and 
churches  were  rising  in  every  town.  "  ^ 

About  the  year  290  a  university  was  founded  at 
Nicomedia,  and  here  Lactantius  taught  Latin  elo- 
quence. Constantine,  who  was  then  about  eighteen 
years  of  age,  probably  attended  his  lectures  ;  ^  at  any- 
rate  he  must  have  struck  up  an  acquaintance  with 
him,  since  later  on,  in  317,  he  appointed  Lactantius 
tutor  to  his  son.  As  Lactantius  soon  after  became 
a  convert  to  Christianity,  it  is  probable  that  the 
atmosphere  in  which  Constantine  and  his  mother 
lived  was,  to  say  the  least,  not  antagonistic  to 
Christianity.  A  church  had  been  erected  near  the 
palace,^  and  who  knows  whether  Helena  did  not 
occasionally  enter  it  when  returning  from  a  visit  to 
her  son,  whether  she  did  not  recognise  in  the  teaching 
she  there  heard  the  fulfilment  of  her  husband's  dreams, 
and  whether  her  suffering  heart  did  not  glean  con- 
solation when  she  heard  those  words,  so  painful  to 
the  pagan :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they 
shall  be  comforted  "  ? 

Diodes  soon  became  fond  of  Caesar's  son,  and  took 
him  with  him  to  the  wars.  When  on  an  expedition 
to  Egypt  against  Achilleus,  a.d.  296,  he  passed 
through  Palestine,  Eusebius,  who  saw  Constantine 
riding  at  his  side,  was  much  impressed  by  the  good 
bearing  of  the  youth,  by  his  beauty,  by  his  shapely 

1  Eus.  H.E.  viii.  6. 

2  Eus.  de  Vita  Const. ;  P.G.  xx.  or  P.L.  viii.  19- 
2  Lactantius,  xii. ;  P.L.  vii.  213. 


104     THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

body,  and  his  strength/  In  every  way  his  was  a 
superior  mind.  Issued  from  a  Hne  of  soldiers,  he 
instinctively  understood  the  business  of  war;  it  is 
not  surprising,  under  the  circumstances,  that  Diodes 
made  him,  even  before  305,  a  tribune  of  the  first  class  ; 
the  legionaries  adored  their  young  general,  who  besides 
being  brave,  was  always  affable  and  kind.^ 

Other  good  qualities  of  Constantius  reappeared  in 
Constantine  as  time  went  on,  especially  the  virtue  of 
chastity,^  then  so  unusual  a  quality  that  Lactantius 
describes  him  as  a  very  pure  young  man.  Under 
the  circumstances  it  was  easy  to  foresee  the  future. 
Maximian  being  desirous  of  getting  the  power  into 
his  family,  betrothed  him  to  his  daughter  Fausta,  a 
girl  of  exceptional  beauty.^  A  picture  of  the  period, 
which  was  exhibited  at  the  palace  of  Aquileia,  depicted 
the  lady  offering  him  a  golden  helmet  adorned  with 
diamonds.^  But  Diodes  opposed  the  projected 
marriage,  fearing,  no  doubt,  that  the  double  alliance 
of  Constantius  and  of  Constantine  with  a  daughter- 
in-law  and  a  daughter  of  the  Milanese  Augustus 
would  lead  to  the  breaking  away  of  the  western 
empire. 

Ambitious  dreams  then  gave  way  for  prosaic  reality. 
Constantine  had  to  resign  himself  to  entering  the 
inferior  state  of  wedlock  with  a  poor  girl  of  humble 
birth  named  Minervina,^  who  presented  him  with  a 
boy,  Crispus,  born  about  the  year  296  according  to 

1  Eus.  Fita  Cons. ;  P.L.  viii,  19. 

2  Lact.  xviii. ;  P.L.  vii.  223. 

3  Incerti  panegifricus,  iv.  ;  P.L.  viii.  657. 

^  So  Julian  the  Apostate,  Disc.  i.  6.  Quoted  by  Duruy,  vol.  vii. 
p.  12,  note  1. 

s  Pan.  Vet.  vi.  ;  P.L.  viii.  6 13. 

6  Zonaras,  Annals,  xiii.  2;  P.G.  cxxxiv,  1105;  Zosimus,  Hist, 
ii.  20. 


THE   YOUTH   OF   CONSTANTINE     105 

Ducange,  about  298  according  to  Godescard,  about 
300  according  to  Tillemont. 

The  object  of  this  early  marriage  was  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  husband's  morality.  It  was  felt  that  the 
discipline  of  married  life  would  save  him  from  experi- 
encing the  vague  desires  of  the  flesh.^  Such  a  pre- 
occupation, it  seems,  only  befits  a  mother  who  is 
anxious  for  the  future  and  for  the  dignity  of  her  son. 
Helena  probably  sought  for  one  who  should  be  at 
once  beautiful  and  chaste  and  faithful,  and  such 
could  be  found  only  among  the  humble.  Certainly 
no  one  could  need  a  wife  of  this  character  more  than 
Constantine,  for  was  he  not  a  hostage  surrounded  by 
prying,  jealous  eyes,  and  reduced  by  necessity  to 
a  reserve  which  his  panegyrists  mistook  of  inborn 
prudence  ?  ^ 

Everyone  knows  how  Diocletian  finally  gave  way 
to  Galerius  in  the  matter  of  religious  tolerance,  and 
started,  by  a  decree  of  the  24th  February  303,  the  era 
of  the  martyrs.  This  persecution  raged  more  especi- 
ally at  Nicomedia ;  from  the  windows  of  the  palace 
Constantine  may  have  witnessed  the  destruction  of 
the  church,  and  the  massacres.  Boiling  with  indigna- 
tion, he  was  imprudent  enough  to  exclaim  publicly: 
"  What  folly,  what  utter  blindness,  for  men  to  declare 
war  on  God."  ^  Forthwith  he  became  a  marked  man. 
Only  the  fact  of  his  being  the  son  of  Constantius  and 
a  favourite  of  the  emperor  saved  him  from  death, 
and  the  favour  of  the  latter  he  was  soon  to  lose. 

In  305  Diocletian  and  Maximian  Hercules,  in  order 
to  prevent  civil  war,  both  abdicated,^  and  the  two 

^  Incerti  panegyricus,  4.;  P.L.  viii.  6l2. 

2  Eus.  de  Vita  Const. ;  P.G.  xx.  or  P.L.  viii.  19. 

^  Constantini  oratio  ad  sanctorum  coetiim,  xxv. ;  P.L.  viii.  473. 

*  Lact,  de  morte  pers.  xviii. 


106     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Cassars,  Galerius  and  Constantius,  became  Augusti. 
Constantius  being  far  away  was  not  consulted  as  to 
the  measures  to  be  taken.  Galerius,  in  order  to  retain 
for  himself  the  highest  place  in  the  tetrarchy,  appointed 
two  of  his  tools,  who  like  him  were  bitterly  opposed 
to  the  Christians,  to  be  Cassars :  Flavius  Severus,  a 
debauched  dancer  and  drunkard,  who  used  to  turn 
night  into  day,^  and  Maximin  Daia,  his  sister's  son, 
a  young  semi-barbarian,  who  had  left  his  native  woods 
and  his  flocks  to  join  the  army.^  To  the  wonder  of 
all,  especially  of  the  soldiers,  he  gave  no  appointment 
to  Constantine,  because  he  was  his  rival's  son  and  a 
scorner  of  his  cruelties. 

It  was  now  Constantine's  turn  to  be  threatened, 
and  Helena  and  Minervina  could  only  wait  in  fear 
and  trembling.  Aurelius  Victor  states  explicitly  that 
Galerius  treated  him  as  a  hostage  on  religious  grounds.^ 
It  seems  that  it  entered  into  God's  mysterious  plans 
that  the  pagan  whose  heart  had  melted  at  the  sight 
of  the  sufferings  of  His  saints  should  be  himself 
treated  as  a  Christian,  so  that  the  distance  which 
separated  him  from  them  might  be  easier  to  cross 
when  the  hour  of  resolution  struck. 

Galerius  was  a  man  of  dreadful  cruelty.  According 
to  Lactantius  "  everything  seemed  to  him  fit  to  be 
burnt,  to  be  crucified,  to  be  thrown  to  the  beasts. 
His  officers  and  his  servants  he  chastised  with  the 
spear.  He  considered  it  a  gracious  act  to  allow  of  a 
man  being  beheaded,  and  many  and  great  were  the 
past  services  required  to  obtain  for  one  the  privilege 
of  such  a  death."*     Though  he  was   bound   to  be 

^  Lact.  de  morte  pers.  xviii. 

2  Ibid.  xix. 

3  Aurelius  Victor,  de  Cces.  (Constant.). 
*  Lact.  de  morte  pers.  xxii. 


THE   YOUTH   OF   CONSTANTINE     107 

careful  with  his  colleague's  son,  who  was  the  soldiers' 
idol,  yet  he  was  continually  attempting  to  ensnare 
him.  Sometimes,  by  praising  his  strength  and  agility, 
he  would  get  him  to  descend  into  the  arena  to  fight 
the  beasts  ;^  at  other  times  he  would  compliment  him 
on  his  bravery,  and  so  induce  him  to  fight  in  single 
combat  with  some  gigantic  Sarmatian  ;  or  again,  when 
hunting,  he  would  make  him  walk  first  into  a  morass 
to  locate  the  chase.^  But  Providence  watched  over 
the  young  tribune,  and  he  came  scathless  out  of  his 
many  trials. 

Constantius  Chlorus  acted  very  differently,  and 
was  eminently  tolerant.  He  pretended  not  to  notice 
that  at  Treves  there  were  Christians  among  the  magis- 
trates and  among  his  own  courtiers.^  Certain  priests 
whose  presence  he  tolerated  openly  prayed  for  his 
safety,  and  celebrated  Mass  in  his  palace.^  Being  a 
subordinate,  he  had  been  obliged  to  execute  to  some 
extent,  and  even  to  countersign  the  decrees  of  his 
colleagues  in  the  tetrarchy.  Lactantius,  with  some 
irony,  writes  of  him  that  "  for  fear  of  seeming  to  dis- 
obey the  orders  of  those  above  him,  he  suffered  a  few 
meeting-places  to  be  pulled  down — that  is,  he  allowed 
this  to  be  done  to  those  walls  which  might  be  easily 
rebuilt,  but  he  preserved  intact  the  real  temple  which 
is  in  men."^ 

Constantius  was  a  man  of  gentle  habits,  who  had 
at  least  some  idea  of  God,  so  that  it  is  not  surprising 
if  in  after  times  he  has  come  to  be  considered  as  a 
Christian.    Eusebius  thus  describes  his  state  of  mind "' : 

1  Lact.  de  morte  pers, ;  xxiv.  P.L.  vii.  233. 

2  De  Broglie,  Constantin,  vol.  i.  p.  191. 

3  Eus.  de  Vita  Const. ;  P.G.  xx.  927.  *  Op.  cit. 
^'  De  morte  pers.  xv.  ;  P.L.  vii.  217. 

«  De  Vita  Constantini;  P.G.  xx,  931-934. 


108     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

"  During  his  whole  reign,  being  a  just  and  tolerant 
sovereign,  he  consecrated  to  God,  the  sovereign  of  all, 
his  family,  his  spouse,  his  children,  and  all  his  servants, 
so  much  so  that  those  who  dwelt  in  his  palace  scarcely 
differed  from  the  Church  of  God."  But  between 
Natural  and  Revealed  Religion  there  is  a  gulf,  and 
Constantius  never  crossed  it.  He  never  would  allow 
the  name  of  Christ  to  be  mentioned  in  his  hearing. 

Even  when  he  had  assumed  the  purple  he  still  had 
a  claim  to  his  old  title  of  the  Pauper,  which  we  can 
afford  to  render  as  the  Upright.  Never  did  he  put 
his  hand  to  the  public  treasury,  of  which  he  considered 
himself  as  the  guardian.^  According  to  Eutropius 
"so  humble  was  his  daily  life  that  on  the  occasion 
of  feasts,  when  he  had  to  entertain  an  unusually  large 
number  of  guests,  he  was  forced  to  beg  from  door  to 
door  of  his  acquaintances  the  silver  plate  for  use  on 
his  table.  The  Gauls  not  merely  loved,  but  actually 
idolised  him,  for  he  had  saved  them  for  the  savagery 
of  Maximian." 

When  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fifty-five  his  health 
commenced  to  fail,  and  he  began  to  think  of  the  in- 
evitable. Six  children  had  been  born  to  him  by 
Theodora.  The  eldest  of  these  children  was  only  ten 
years  of  age.  The  power  for  which  he  had  sacrificed 
all  would  at  his  death  depart  from  his  family.  He 
also  thought  of  the  hatred  of  Galerius,  of  his  son 
Constantine,  who  was  now  at  the  tyrant's  mercy,  but 
who,  if  he  could  only  be  brought  to  Treves,  might 
save  the  whole  situation.  He  accordingly  sent  letters 
to  Nicomedia  imploring  his  colleague  to  send  him  his 
son  that  he  might  embrace  him  once  again  before 
dying.- 

1  Eutrop.  Breviarium  historian  Romana',  x.  1. 

2  Lact.  de  vwrte  pers.  xxiv. 


THE   YOUTH   OF   CONSTANTINE     109 

Galerius,  who  had  an  inkhng  of  Constantine's 
ambitions,  ^  much  dishked  the  idea  of  his  departure  ;  ^ 
in  fact,  he  had  disregarded  previous  letters  of  Con- 
stantius  to  the  same  effect ;  but  this  time  Galerius 
gave  way.  His  doing  so  was  a  matter  of  surprise  to 
everyone  ;  and  some  chroniclers  are  of  opinion  that  he 
only  yielded  before  Constantine's  threat  to  free  him- 
self forcibly  by  the  aid  of  his  army.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  Galerius  was  ailing,  and  that  he  could 
have  defended  himself  only  with  difficulty.  At  any- 
rate  he  outwardly  gave  his  consent  to  his  ward's 
departure,  and  handed  him  a  brief  empowering  him  to 
requisition  horses  on  the  road,  strictly  cautioning  him, 
however,  not  to  leave  before  the  morrow,  when  he  would 
receive  his  final  instructions.  Galerius  hoped  that 
during  the  night  he  would  succeed  in  finding  some 
pretext  for  detaining  the  youth,  and  that  in  the  delay 
he  would  have  time  to  send  a  special  courier  to 
Severus,  the  Caesar  of  Milan.^  It  would  have  been 
dangerous  to  attack  Constantine  so  long  as  he  was 
surrounded  by  his  own  troops,  but  Severus  was  to  be 
advised  to  fall  upon  him  at  one  of  his  resting-places 
beyond  the  Alps. 

Night  was  falling.  Galerius,  excusing  himself  on 
the  score  of  his  poor  health,  retired  to  his  sleeping 
apartment.  Constantine  whilst  supping  recalled  the 
different  incidents  of  the  day ;  instinctively  he  felt 
that  the  least  delay  would  compromise  his  freedom, 
and  possibly  result  in  the  loss  of  his  life.^  He  accord- 
ingly resolved  on  immediate  action.  Taking  advan- 
tage of  the  emperor's  absence  he  hurriedly  finished  his 
supper,  embraced  Minervina,  and  took  his  departure.^ 

^  Lact.  de  morte  pers.  xxiv.  ^  Zosimus,  Hist.  ii.  8. 

3  Lact.  de  morte  pers.  xxiv.  *  Eus.  de  vita  Const,  i.  20. 

°  Lact.  xxiv. 


no     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

He  crossed  the  Bosphorus  in  a  boat,  and  then,  to 
prevent  pursuit,  according  to  Lactantius,  he  requisi- 
tioned all  the  horses  available,  or,  as  Zosimus  has  it,* 
mutilated  all  the  horses  he  did  not  require.  The 
next  morning  Galerius  pretended  to  awake  later  than 
usual,  and  the  first  thing  he  did  was  to  send  for 
Constantine.  Soon  news  was  brought  of  the  hurried 
departure  and  of  the  injury  done  to  the  horses,  and 
Galerius,  in  his  vexation  at  being  outdone,  could 
scarcely  restrain  his  tears.^ 

Duruy  informs  us  that  he  disbelieves  the  tale  of 
this  flight,  which  it  would  have  been  so  easy  to  pre- 
vent, and  of  this  expectation  of  Galerius  that  Severus 
would  shut  the  Alpine  passes,  whereas  it  would  have 
been  so  much  easier  for  Galerius  himself  to  have  shut 
the  gates  of  Nicomedia.^  But  Duruy  forgets  that 
any  attempt  on  Constantine  by  Galerius  would  have 
fired  the  troops.  It  is  no  paradox  to  say  that  it  was 
an  easier  matter  to  shut  the  far-off  passes  than  the 
gates  of  Nicomedia.  Personally,  I  believe  the  story 
of  this  flight,  for  it  is  testified  to  not  only  by  Eusebius 
and  Lactantius,  but  also  by  Zosimus,  who  certainly 
was  not  over-sympathetic  to  Constantine.  The  very 
fact  that  Galerius  wished  to  smother  his  dangerous 
young  rival  confirms  the  story  of  the  escape. 

Constantine  hurried  at  all  speed  from  Byzantium 
to  the  borders  of  Gaul.^  All  along  his  road,  in 
Thracia,  in  Noricum,  in  the  higher  regions  of  the 
Danube,  crosses  stood,  and  piles  flared  away — in  a 
word,  every  torture  was  being  applied  to  the  Chris- 
tians.    In  many  places  the  villages  were  deserted, 

^  Hist.  ii.  8. 

2  Vix  lacrymas  tenebat.      Lact.  de  morte  pers.  xxiv. 

^  Duruy,  Hist,  des  Romams,  vol.  vii.  p.  6. 

*  At  ille  incredibili  celeritate  usus.     Lact.  ib. 


THE   YOUTH   OF   CONSTANTINE     111 

and  the  survivors  were  hiding  among  the  mountains 
and  in  caves.^  Not  until  he  arrived  in  Gaul  could 
he  find  a  trace  of  peace.^ 

Constantius  was  at  Gessoricum  (Boulogne),  engaged 
in  embarking  an  army  for  Great  Britain,  when  Con- 
stantine  arrived.  The  expedition  against  the  Picts 
was  successful,  and  Constantine,  who  accompanied 
his  father  as  his  lieutenant,  made  himself  known  and 
loved  by  the  legionaries.  This  had  been  precisely 
the  object  which  Constantius  wished  to  attain.  He 
died  at  Eboracum  (York),  25th  July  306,  commending 
Constantine  to  the  care  of  his  soldiers,  and  Theodora 
and  his  children  to  that  of  Constantine.  Nicomedia 
was  at  the  other  end  of  the  known  world.  Con- 
stantine, who,  though  young,  had  already  made  him- 
self a  name,  had  taken  his  father's  place  at  the  head 
of  the  army ;  can  we  wonder,  then,  that  the  soldiers 
proclaimed  him  Augustus  ?  ^  But  as  in  the  tetrarchy 
the  son  had  no  right  to  succeed  to  his  father,  this 
proclamation  was  an  infringement  of  the  law,  and,  in 
in  fact,  a  coup  d'etat.  In  accordance  with  Roman 
custom,*  Constantine  beforehand  had  promised  his 
soldiers  magnificent  presents.^ 

3.  St.  Helena's  Conversion 
Constantine  proved  to  be  inclined  to  moderation. 

1  Acta  S.  Floriani.  Acta  SS.  4th  May.  De  S.  Floriano  prmcipe 
officii,  etc.;  De  Broglie,  Constantin,  vol.  i.  p.  193. 

2  According  to  Lactantius,  Constantine  found  his  father  at  the 
last  extremity.  Constantius  died  peacefully,  commending  his  son 
to  the  soldiers^  and  leaving  him  all  his  power. 

2  Eus.  Vita  Const.;  P.G.  xx.  938. 

*  Zosimus,  ii.  9. 

5  The  military  revolution  spoils  the  argument  of  Gibbon,  who 
proved  Helena's  marriage  by  the  fact  of  Constantine  succeeding 
Constantius. 


112     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Instead  of  breaking  loose  from  the  tetrarchy  he 
pohtely  notified  Galerius  of  his  election,  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  usual  custom  sent  him  his  image 
crowned  with  laurel,  also  begging  that  his  legions 
might  be  pardoned  for  their  hurry  in  nominating  him 
their  emperor/  This  was  a  capital  way  of  forcing 
his  claim,  and  Galerius  had  at  least  the  grace  to 
pretend  that  he  willingly  ratified  the  soldiers'  choice. 
But  in  his  reply  he  carefully  avoided  bestowing  on 
Constantine  the  title  of  Augustus,  and  merely  styled 
him  Caesar,  thus  putting  him  in  the  fourth  rank,  below 
Maximin  Daia,  and  under  the  orders  of  Severus." 

Constantine  was  far-sighted  enough  to  accept  this 
arrangement.  He  settled  at  Treves,  which  was  the 
headquarters  of  the  Prefect  of  Gaul  and  of  his 
own  governing  staff.  Helena,  Crispus,  and  possibly 
INIinervina  too,  soon  joined  him.  Being,  even  more 
than  his  father,  favourably  disposed  to  the  Christians, 
he  issued  a  decree  establishing  freedom  of  conscience 
and  of  worship.^  By  so  doing  he  practically  cut  him- 
self adrift  from  the  tetrarchy,  and  put  himself  above 
the  decrees  which  had  been  countersigned  by  his 
father. 

In  306  death  claimed  many  victims  in  his  family. 
Theodora,  the  widow  of  Constantius,  who,  judging 
by  her  medals,  was  a  frail  and  weakly  creature,  did 
not  long  survive  her  husband.  Minervina  disappears 
from  the  scene  of  history  so  early  that  we  may 
surmise  that  she  died  in  Nicomedia.  Helena  became 
passionately  attached  to  Crispus,  Minervina's  child. 
Evidently  she  had  not  yet  received  the  grace  of 
faith,  for  as  yet  she  would  not  pardon  Theodora  and 

^  Eumenius,  Panegyr.  Vet.  ;  vii.  P.L.  viii.  628. 

2  Lact.  de  niorle  pers.  xxv,  ;  P.L.  vii.  235. 

3  Lact,  xxiv. 


ST.    HELENA'S   CONVERSION        113 

her  children  for  having  been  the  occasion  of  her  long 
separation  from  Constantius.  The  children  of  Con- 
stantius,  whom  Constantine  had  promised  to  pro- 
tect, were  sent  away  to  Toulouse  and  confided  to  the 
care  of  rhetors.^ 

In  money  matters  Constantine  was  less  scrupulous 
than  his  father.  He  looked  upon  the  treasury  as 
his  own  property.  Though  he  was  the  son  of  a 
barmaid  and  of  an  emperor  who  all  his  life  had 
been  poor,  he  succeeded  in  amassing  immense  wealth, 
and  gave  his  mother  a  palace  at  Treves  and  lands 
in  every  part  of  his  empire.^ 

Treves  had  been  evangelised  by  Eucharius,  Valerius 
and  Maternus.  As  the  Church  had  adopted  for  her 
purposes  the  civil  division  of  the  provinces,  the 
Bishop  of  Treves  was  primate  of  Gaul.  He  is  said 
to  have  possessed  St.  Peter's  pastoral  staff,  which 
had  been  despatched  by  the  prince  of  the  Apostles 
that  Eucharius  might  by  means  of  it  raise  Maternus 
to  life.^  However,  faith  had  here  grown  cold,  and 
paganism  was  regaining  lost  ground.* 

At  Treves  Helena  and  Constantine  were  far  away 
from  the  good  influence  of  Lactantius,  and  for  a  time 
the  new  Ceesar  made  no  spiritual  progress.  Helena, 
now  that  her  affliction  had  been  removed,  had  op- 
portunity to  reflect  on  the  mysterious  plans  of  that 
God  who  puts  down  the  mighty  from  their  seat  and 
exalts  the  humble.  Grace,  helped  no  doubt  by  her 
austerities,  was  rapidly  making  progress  in  her  heart. 

At  this  same  time  grave  events  were  taking  place 

^  De  Broglie,  Constantin,  vol.  ii.  p.  98. 
2  Le  Nain  de  Tillement,  Memoires,  vol.  vii.  p.  2. 
'  Willems,  Der  HI.  Rock  zu  Trier,  p.  158. 

^  Acta  SS.     De  S.  Agricio  sive  Agrcecio  episcopo  Trevirensi.     Jan. 
xiii. 


114      THE    FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

beyond  the  Alps.  Maxentius,  the  son-in-law  of 
Galerius,  got  himself  proclaimed  Augustus  in  a 
praetorian  revolution  on  October  28th,  306,  and  as 
his  partner  he  chose  his  father,  JNIaximian  Hercules, 
who  since  his  abdication  had  been  living  a  retired 
life  in  the  country.  Severus  had  been  sent  by 
Galerius  to  punish  the  usurper,  but  having  been  first 
betrayed  and  abandoned  by  his  own  army  and  then 
attacked  by  the  enemy,  he  opened  his  veins,  and  died 
at  Ravenna.^ 

JNIaximian,  fearing  that  Galerius  might  again  take 
the  offensive,  set  about  finding  friends  and  allies. 
He  strengthened  the  defences  of  Rome,  and  went 
to  Gaul  to  offer  to  Constantine  the  hand  of  his 
daughter  Fausta,  to  whom  he  had  been  already  once 
affianced."  The  wedding  took  place  at  Aries,  the 
Gallic  Rome,  where  Constantine  reassumed  on  the 
31st  March  307  the  title  of  Augustus.  Maximian 
returned  to  Italy  without  having  obtained  the  help 
he  had  hoped  for.  Galerius  now  marched  against 
him,  but  with  no  better  success  than  Severus,  and 
was  obHged  to  return  to  Nicomedia. 

Helena,  who  had  never  overcome  her  dislike  for 
Theodora,  was  not  at  all  pleased  to  see  her  rival's 
sister  united  in  marriage  to  her  son.  "  It  is  highly 
probable,"  Avrites  M.  de  Broglie,^  "  that  Fausta  with 
her  family  and  Helena  with  Crispus  formed  two 
hostile  groups  at  the  court,  both  striving  to  obtain 
the  upper  place  in  the  sovereign's  heart  and  mind." 
Constantine  had  long  appeared  to  value  above  all 
his  mother's  and  his  eldest  boy's  affection,  but  youth 
and  beauty  will  tell  even  against  love  for  a  mother. 

Fausta  was  a  thorough  pagan,  and  the  daughter 

1  Lact.  dc  viorle  pers.  xxvi.  ^  Lact.  ib.  xxvii. 

^  Constanlifi,  vol.  i.  p.  99- 


ST.    HELENA'S   CONVEHSION         115 

of  a  persecutor,  and  as  such  she  was  firmly  attached 
to  the  gods,  those  protectors  of  pleasure  and  of  the 
easy  life.  Helena,  on  the  contrary,  grew  ever  more 
enamoured  of  the  spiritual  God  of  Constantius 
Chlorus.  Zonaras  thus  describes  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  emperor  :  "  Belonging  to  the  religion  of  the 
Gentiles,  and,  for  all  that,  cherished  by  the  Christians, 
he  was  urged  to  idolatry  by  his  spouse."  ^ 

Two  voices  were  entreating  him,  but  he  preferred 
to  listen  to  the  one  which  spoke  to  the  more  sensual 
side  of  his  nature.  He  may  have  been  tolerant  to- 
wards the  Christians,  but  he  was  exceptionally  pro- 
pitious to  the  pagans,  doubtless  to  humour  the  whims 
of  his  wife.  Eumenius  was  able  to  say  to  him : 
"  Every  temple  has  its  attractions  for  thee,  but 
especially  that  of  Apollo.  .  .  .  By  thy  liberality  the 
temples  have  been  beautifully  restored.  .  .  .  All 
around,  cities  and  temples  are  rising  from  their 
ruins."  ^  The  head  of  his  family,  Claudius  II.,  had 
dedicated  his  house  to  the  Sun,  symbolised  by  the 
fair-haired  Phoebus ;  and  Eumenius,  when  addressing 
Constantine  in  310,  was  still  so  sure  of  that  emperor's 
fidelity  to  the  worship  of  his  great-uncle  that  he 
ventures  to  speak  of  his  "own  cherished  Apollo."^ 
The  Augustus  of  Treves  was  farther  off  from  the 
True  God  than  had  been  the  tribune  of  Nicomedia. 

The  last  of  the  persecutors  were  a  strange  set  of 
men.  They  were  ferocious  towards  the  Christians, 
they  had  no  pity  for  mankind,  they  betrayed  their 
own  families,  their  only  thought  was  of  self,  their 
only  motive  for  acting,  their  own  brutal  appetites. 

1  Zonaras,  Annals,  xiii.  1  ;  P.G.  cxxxiv.  1098. 

2  Eumenius,  Paneg.  Vet.  21,  22  ;  P.L.  viii.  637/. 

3  Apollinem    tuum.       See    Duruy,  Hist,    des   Romains,   vol.    vii. 
p.  51  sq. 


116     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

After  the  retreat  of  Galerius,  Maximian  began  to 
think  that  he  might  as  well  reign  alone  ;  he  accordingly 
plotted  to  overthrow  and  slay  his  own  son  Maxentius, 
who  had  so  generously  given  him  a  portion  of  the 
empire.  But  no  sooner  had  the  legionaries  been 
made  acquainted  with  these  dastardly  designs  than 
they  rose  as  a  man,  and  put  the  traitor  JNIaximian 
to  flight.^  JNIaxentius,  unwilling  to  compass  the  death 
of  his  own  father,  banished  him  from  Italy,  where- 
upon JNIaximian  went  to  live  in  Treves  with  Con- 
stantine,  his  son-in-law. 

But  no  sooner  had  he  settled  in  Gaul  than  he  again 
began  scheming.  Constantius  had  embarked  on  a 
war  against  the  Franks  ;  as  soon  as  Maximian  deemed 
him  at  a  safe  distance  he  proceeded  to  Aries,  took 
possession  of  the  war-chest,  and  with  the  money  thus 
obtained  bought  over  to  his  side  the  soldiery  of  the 
depot.  Constantine,  who  had  received  information 
of  these  doings,  probably  from  his  mother,  hastened 
back  by  forced  marches,  and  captured  Maximian  at 
Marseilles  (a.d.  308).  Constantine  on  this  occasion 
took  no  extreme  measures  against  INIaximian ;  he 
merely  reproached  him  for  his  treachery,  and  deprived 
him  of  the  purple,  incidentally  pushing  his  contempt 
so  far  as  to  allow  Maximian  to  dwell  in  his  portion 
of  the  empire.^ 

In  310  the  aged  plotter  again  organised  a  con- 
spiracy, this  time  with  the  avowed  object  of  slaying 
his  son-in-law  during  the  night.  He  was  indiscreet 
enough  to  take  into  his  confidence  Fausta,  to  whom 
he  promised  a  better  husband.  Fausta,  of  course, 
betrayed  the  secret  to  Constantine,  who  on  the 
night  appointed  made  a  eunuch  sleep  in  his  bed. 
JNIaximian  entered  the   imperial  bedroom,  slew  the 

^  Lact.  de  morte  pers.  xxviii.  ^  Lact.  ib. 


ST.    HELENA'S   CONVERSION        117 

slave,  and  under  the  impression  that  he  had  killed 
the  emperor,  went  forth  filled  with  joy  {gloriahundus). 
But  outside  he  was  met  by  Constantine  and  his  guard, 
who  promptly  arrested  him/  This  time  Maximian 
had  gone  too  far,  and  it  was  decided  that  an  end 
must  be  put  to  his  villainous  life. 

Eusebius  in  his  Church  History,  and  Eumenius  in 
his  panegyric,  suggest  that  Maximian  committed 
suicide.  On  the  other  hand,  Aurelius  Victor  states 
that  he  was  formally  condemned  to  death. ^  Lactan- 
tius  furnishes  us  with  the  means  of  reconciling 
these  two  versions.  "  As  a  last  favour  he  was  left  to 
choose  the  kind  of  death  he  preferred,  and  he  hanged 
himself."^  It  was  as  good  as  a  custom  among  the 
Romans  that  high  dignitaries  should,  if  condemned, 
have  the  privilege  of  what  was  called  a  good  death. 
In  other  words,  they  were  left  to  kill  themselves. 

Duruy  ^  shows  himself  quite  unusually  well  disposed 
towards  the  persecutor ;  he  writes :  "  We  shall  not 
be  far  off  from  the  truth  if  we  surmise  that  this 
narrative  was  composed  to  hide  the  wickedness  of 
the  murder  of  an  old  man,  who,  being  abandoned  by 
all,  was  a  danger  to  nobody,  and  whose  grey  hairs 
and  long  services  should  have  been  respected  by  his 
daughter's  husband." 

But  what  if  his  long  services  consisted  in  feeding 
the  Coliseum  beasts  on  the  flesh  of  the  Christians  ? 
His  life  had  indeed  been  long,  far  too  long  if  we 
measure  it  by  the  number  of  the  martyrs  whom  he 
put  to  death.  He  had  conspired  against  his  son,  and 
had  twice  plotted  the  overthrow  of  his  son-in-law. 
He  could  not  expect  respect  of  those  whom  he  had 

^  Lact.  XXX.  2  Jure  interierat, 

3  Lact.  XXX.     Zosimus,  ii,  11,  states  that  he  died  "morbo." 

^  Hist,  des  Romains,  vol.  vii.  p.  l6. 


118     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

been  ever  ready  to  betray.  At  the  period  high 
treason  was  not  a  crime  subject  to  ordinary  judicial 
procedure ;  its  punishment  depended  on  the  emperor. 
It  seems  a  dreadful  thing  that  a  man  should  con- 
demn his  wife's  father  to  death ;  but  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  pagan,  Aurelius  Victor,  was  right  in 
saying  that  Maximian  was  executed  in  accordance 
with  the  law. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  Maxentius.  Affecting  to 
be  horrified  by  his  father's  death,  he  declared  war 
against  his  brother-in-law  (a.d.  312),^  Constantine 
retorted  by  overthrowing  Maximian's  statues.^  Critics 
are  at  variance  as  to  the  real  cause  of  this  war. 

Some  have  thought  that  the  Christians  of  Rome 
had  summoned  Constantine  to  their  aid.  This  sup- 
position is  a  mistaken  one.  The  persecution  was 
evidently  nearing  its  end.  The  emperors  were  just 
beginning,  now  that  it  was  too  late,  to  realise  the 
wrongness  of  their  tactics.  Galerius  on  his  death-bed 
had  published  (30th  April  312)  an  edict  of  toleration, 
in  which  we  find  expressions  which  are  in  strange 
contrast  to  what  we  know  of  his  life.  "Our  clemency 
should  animate  the  Christians  to  pray  to  their  God 
for  our  health,  and  for  the  prosperity  of  the  State  as 
well  as  for  their  own  preservation."^  Maxentius,  on 
the  whole,  was  not  intolerant  in  matters  of  conscience.* 
Christians  and  pagans  indiscriminately  had  had  to 
suffer  for  his  vices,  but  their  rights  were  safeguarded 
by  the  public  authority.  Pope  Miltiades  was  allowed 
to  put  in  his  claim  for  the  Church  property  that  had 
been  confiscated  in  304,  and  also  to  bring  back  to 

1  Lact.  xliii. ;  P.L.  vii.  259. 

2  Lact.  xlii. 

3  Lact.  xxxiv. 

4  Eus.  Hist.  Eccl.  viii,  14;  P.G.  xx.  781. 


ST.   HELENA'S   CONVERSION        119 

Rome  the  remains  of  his  predecessor,  who  had  died 
in  Sicily.^ 

Lactantius  gives  a  better  explanation  of  the  war. 
After  the  death  of  Severus,  Galerius  had  promoted 
Licinius  to  be  Augustus ;  Constantine,  whose  eyes 
were  open,  thereupon  betrothed  to  Licinius  his  half- 
sister  Constantia.  Maximin  Daia  "immediately  took 
alarm,  and  thinking  that  the  two  emperors  were 
about  to  unite  against  him,  he  made  friends  with 
Maxentius,  and  roused  him  up  to  attack  Constantine."  ^ 

In  the  tetrarchy  the  several  emperors  suspected 
and  feared  each  other.  Although  they  were  all 
related  either  by  consanguinity  or  affinity  yet  some 
evil  genius  was  always  there  to  incite  them  against 
each  other.  Maxentius  thought  the  opportunity  a 
good  one  to  crush  Constantine ;  his  was  the  better 
army,  for  it  comprised  the  praetorian  guards,  all  picked 
men,  the  army  of  Severus  which,  as  we  saw  above, 
had  deserted  and  gone  over  to  Maxentius,  and  also 
a  large  part  of  the  army  of  Galerius,  which  had  acted 
likewise.  He  could  also  count  on  the  help  of  many 
contingents  recruited  in  Africa  and  in  Italy.^  The 
force  at  his  disposal  numbered  about  170,000  infantry 
and  18,000  cavalry,  all  of  them  regular,  well-trained 
soldiers.* 

Constantine  had  altogether  only  eight  legions,  of 
which  four  were  required  for  the  defence  of  the 
Rhine.  Besides  the  four  legions  (30,000  men)  which 
he  could  safely  bring  to  the  front,  he  had  a  number  of 
irregulars  from  Gaul,  Britain,  and  Germany.     At  the 

1  Allard,  Le  Christianisme  et  V  Empire  romai?i,  pp.  146-147. 

2  Lact.  de  morte  pers.  xliii. 

3  Some  critics  are  of  opinion  that  instead  of  "Africa"  we  should 
here  read  "  Getulia." 

*  Zosimus,  ii.  1 5. 


120     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

most  he  may  have  had  90,000  infantry  and  8,000 
cavalry,  for  the  most  part  untrained  men. 

The  two  emperors  paused  before  entering  on  their 
struggle.  Both  being  pagans,  both  were  to  be 
reckoned  among  those  who  looked  for  prognostics  in 
the  food  eaten  by  the  sacred  fowls.  Maxentius  had 
recourse  to  the  most  abominable  forms  of  witchcraft. 
He  had  pregnant  women  dissected,  and  new-born 
children  opened  that  their  insides  might  be  inspected  ; 
he  launched  lions  against  each  other,  and  watched  the 
result,  and  held  consultations  with  the  spirits  of  the 
nether  world.  In  each  and  every  case  the  result  was 
lucky,  and  his  victory  was  foretold.^ 

The  echo  of  all  this  devilry  soon  reached  Treves, 
and  great  indeed  was  the  perturbation  it  aroused  in 
Constantine,^  whose  credulity  has  been  so  well  demon- 
strated by  M.  Boissier.^  "  The  very  harshness  with 
which  he  treated  the  practice  of  the  black  art  shows 
that  he  was  afraid  of  it.  He  firmly  believed  in  the 
power  of  incantation  and  in  the  evil  eye.  When  he 
ordered  the  severe  punishment  of  fortune-tellers  and 
of  those  who  gave  love-potions,  he  was  careful  to 
make  an  exception  for  those  who  made  use  of  charms 
for  restoring  the  sick  to  health  or  for  driving  away 
storms  of  rain  and  hail.*  He  probably  looked  on 
these  impostors  as  the  benefactors  of  mankind.  In 
321,  nine  years  after  the  defeat  of  Maxentius,  he  en- 
acted that  '  when  a  thunderbolt  falls  on  a  public 
monument,  the  aruspice  shall  be  consulted  in  ac- 
cordance with   ancient  custom,  and  that   his   reply 

1  Eus.  de  Vita  Const,  i.  36;  P.G.  xx ;  Cp.  Cedrenus ;  P.G.  cxxi. 
518. 

2  Alexander  monachus,  de  inventione  Crucis.    P.G.  Ixxxvii.  4054. 
2  La  fin  du  paganisme,  vol.  i.  p.  29. 

4  Theodosian  Code,  XVI.  10,  1. 


ST.    HELENA'S   CONVERSION        121 

shall  be  transmitted  to  the  emperor.'  This  law 
puzzled  Baronius,  who  could  only  explain  it  by 
supposing  that  Constantine  reverted  to  paganism. 
Baronius  was  wrong  ;  after  his  conversion  Constantine 
remained  firm,  and  never  gave  up  his  new  faith,  but 
both  as  a  Christian  and  as  a  pagan  he  was  always 
superstitious." 

He  too,  accordingly,  consulted  the  aruspices  about 
his  future,  and  ordered  an  examination  of  the  bowels 
of  the  beasts  sacrificed  to  the  gods.  The  priests' 
answers  were  unsatisfactory :  they  could  only  predict 
disaster.  Yet  in  spite  of  all  these  ill-omens  he 
resolved  on  war.^  What  exactly  was  it  that  led 
him  to  this  resolution  ?  Whence  came  his  courage  ? 
What  induced  him  first  to  seek  and  then  afterwards 
to  despise  the  predictions  of  the  pagans  ?  This 
leads  us  to  consider  the  question  of  St.  Helena's 
conversion. 

Hagiographical  writers  usually  state  that  her  con- 
version took  place  late  in  her  life.  This  statement 
they  make  on  the  authority  of  Eusebius.^  "  Con- 
stantine merits  to  be  proclaimed  blessed  on  account 
of  the  great  prosperity  of  his  reign,  and  especially  on 
account  of  his  filial  piety,  for  he  made  his  mother, 
who  until  then  had  been  a  pagan,  to  be  so  pious  and 
so  well  informed  on  matters  of  religion  that  she 
seemed  to  have  been  instructed  by  our  Saviour  Him- 
self." The  BoUandists  infer  from  this  that  the  con- 
version of  the  mother  took  place  shortly  after  that  of 
the  son,  which  was  effected  in  312  by  the  apparition 
in  the  skies.  At  this  time  the  empress  would  have 
been  about  sixty-five  years  of  age.^ 

1  EumeniuSj  Paneg.  x. 

2  Eus.  de  Vita  Const,  iii.  47. 

^  Acta  SS.     18th  August.     S.  Helena,  iv.     Sainte  Helme,  ly. 


122     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

On  the  contrary,  Willems  ^  is  of  opinion  that 
Helena  was  really  baptised  at  Treves,  and  that  her 
conversion  was  the  motive  of  Constantine's.  This 
opinion  seems  much  the  more  probable,  and  as  the 
whole  question  is  one  of  probabilities  it  may  fairly  be 
described  as  true. 

In  the  first  instance,  Eusebius's  text  is  full  of  the 
adulation  we  may  expect  from  a  courtier.  Surely, 
for  instance,  his  comparison  of  a  mere  man,  even  were 
he  Constantine  the  Great,  to  our  Saviour  is  the  merest 
flattery.  It  is  probable  that  through  their  intercourse 
with  Constantius  Chlorus,  Constantine  and  Helena 
both  became  imbued  with  the  tenets  of  theism, 
and  that  their  later  faith  was  built  up  on  this  ground  ; 
that  Helena  when  she  had  lived  down  her  earthly 
love  was  the  first  to  ask  for  baptism,  but  that 
Constantine,  whose  only  concern  was  his  empire, 
hesitated  as  long  as  he  could  before  adopting  the 
austere  practices  of  the  Christian  religion.  A  man 
who  preferred  to  delay  his  baptism  until  he  was  on 
his  death-bed,  and  then  to  receive  it  at  the  hands  of 
an  Arian  bishop,^  can  surely  not  be  described  as  an 
apostle  of  the  faith. 

Moreover,  we  must  set  against  Eusebius  the  testi- 
mony  of  other   contemporary   writers   who   ascribe 

1  C.  Willems,  Der  HI  Rock  zu  Trier,  p.  52. 

2  [  Philpin  de  Riviere,  Constantin  le  Grand,  son  haptcme  el  sa  vie 
chrelietine  (Paris,  1907),  endeavours  to  prove  that  Constantine  was 
not  baptised  by  Eusebius,  but  by  Pope  Silvester,  The  censure  of 
the  Migne  edition  of  the  works  of  St.  Ambrose  {P.L.  xvi.  col. 
1399)  may  be  quoted  in  this  connection.  It  points  out  that  the 
view  according  to  which  Constantine  was  baptised  by  Silvester  is 
rejected  by  Eusebius,  Jerome,  Socrates,  Sozomen,  Theodoret,  and 
others,  so  much  so  "  ut  mirum  videatur  adhue  exstare  qui  Con- 
stantinum  a  Silvestro  papa  baptizatus  ex  Actis  apocryphis  .  .  . 
obstinatius  defendant." — Trans.] 


ST.    HELENA'S   CONVERSION        123 

Constantine's  conversion  to  Helena.  What  is  the 
meaning  of  the  following  passage  from  St.  Paulinus 
of  Nola  ? — "  Constantine  owed  it  as  much  to  the  faith 
of  his  mother  as  to  his  own  that  he  was  the  first  of 
Christian  princes."^  Does  not  St.  Ambrose,  too,  pre- 
suppose Helena's  influence  when  he  exclaims  ^ :  "  O 
woman  above  all  others,  who  found  and  brought  to 
the  emperor  far  more  than  she  had  received  from 
him."  It  is  hopeless  for  the  Bollandists  to  argue 
that  the  Bishop  of  Milan  is  contrasting  the  importance 
of  the  relics  to  the  gold  which  was  spent  in  securing 
them.  M.  Toupin  rightly  observes  that  St.  Ambrose 
would  not  speak  thus  had  Helena  received  from  her 
son  the  faith — i.e.  the  most  priceless  of  gifts.  This 
opinion  also  agrees  with  the  earliest  tradition,  which 
is  thus  voiced  by  Theodoretus :  "  The  emperor's 
mother  cast  the  brilliant  light  of  faith  over  the  world, 
and  also  led  the  soul  of  her  son  to  piety."  ^ 

If  we  locate  Helena's  conversion  in  313,  the  history 
of  the  fourth  century  becomes  inexplicable,  but  if  we 
suppose  that  she  became  a  convert  at  Treves,  then  all 
the  after  events  are  clear.  We  may  hypothetically 
reconstruct  the  dramatic  scene  when  Constantine 
resolved,  against  all  advice,  on  war.  He  stood 
between  Fausta  and  Helena,  between  the  old  world 
which  was  crumbling  away,  and  the  new  world  then 
just  coming  into  being — Fausta  clasping  his  hands, 
those  hands  which  had  shed  her  father's  blood,  and 
which  were  anxious  to  shed  also  that  of  her  brother, 
and  beseeching  him  whom  she  loved  in  spite  of  all 
not  to  disregard  the  evil  spells  that  had  been  cast 
by  Maxentius,  nor  the  bad  omens   descried  by  the 

1  Paulinus,  ep.  xxxi.  ad.  Sev.  cap.  iv.  ;  P.L.  Ixi.  327, 

2  De  obitu  Theodosii ;  P.L.  xvi.  1399. 

3  Theod.  H.E.  i.  17  ;  P.G.  Ixxxii.  957. 


124     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

heathen  priests  of  Treves.  On  the  other  side  Helena, 
standing  erect,  and  smiling  at  the  notion  that  aruspices 
could  discern  the  future  in  the  bowels  of  women  and 
children,  and  exclaiming  that  one  sign  of  the  cross 
would  be  sufficient  to  put  all  the  demons  to  flight, 
and  then  handing  as  a  keepsake  to  Constantine  a 
medal,  on  which  was  engraved  the  monogram  of 
Christ.  "  Forward,  and  fear  not,"  she  cried.  "  Carry 
this  in  thy  bosom,  hung  about  thy  neck ;  in  this  sign 
thou  shalt  be  victorious " — tovtw  vUa.  Constantine 
paused,  he  looked  at  the  precious  talisman,  and  quickly 
weighed  the  pi'os  and  cons,  the  relative  power  of  God 
and  of  the  gods,  and  then,  giving  way  to  the  authority 
of  his  mother,  and  fired  with  some  of  her  enthusiasm, 
he  vows  to  wear  the  medal,  and  hurries  off  to  mobilise 
his  troops.  This  is  the  only  natural  and  logical 
sequence  of  events. 

Fausta  doubtless  made  her  way  to  the  temple  of 
Apollo  to  make  an  offering  to  the  gods,  whilst  Helena 
followed  slowly  in  the  steps  of  her  beloved  son.  With 
moistened  eyes  she  gazed  at  the  standards  of  the  legions 
— they  at  least  bore  the  semblance  of  the  Cross — at 
the  vcxilla  floating  in  the  breeze,  at  the  eagles,  and 
the  trophies  of  the  maniples.  Hugo  of  Flavigny 
in  his  chronicle  ^  narrates  of  her  that  she  rested  at 
Besan^on,  and  with  her  court  attended  the  little 
church  of  St.  Stephen  to  pray  for  Constantine's 
success.^  "Everyone,"  writes  Willems,  "witnessed 
her  tears  and  her  fasts.  She  made  a  vow  to  rebuild 
the  chapel,  and  afterwards  did  so."  To  say  the 
least,  Eusebius  disregards  several  important  points 
of  the  question. 

^  Monumenta  germ.  vol.  viii.  p.  298.  Quoted  by  Willems,  op.  cit. 
p.  174. 

2  Ada  SS.     18th  August.     §  10. 


THE   LABARUM  125 


4.    THE    LABARUM 


History  has  naught  to  recount  of  the  march  of 
Constantine's  army  from  Treves  to  the  Segusio  Pass, 
near  the  Mont  Cenis,  and  where  history  is  silent  fancy 
is  free  to  build.  M.  Desroches  believes  that  the 
various  troops  mustered  at  Autun,  which  was  the 
point  of  juncture  of  the  Roman  roads  in  Gaul.  He 
forgets  that  the  legions  were  quartered  along  the 
northern  frontiers,  in  the  Belgian  and  Germanic 
provinces.  In  all  probability  the  four  legions  and 
the  German  irregulars  came  together  at  Treves, 
their  nearest  centre,  whilst  the  troops  raised  in  Gaul 
hastened  to  effect  a  junction  with  them  near  the 
Italian  frontier. 

Let  us,  however,  admit  that  Constantine  started 
from  Autun,  and  give  a  summary  of  the  generally 
credited  tradition.  The  emperor  had  arrived  at  a 
certain  spot  identical,  so  we  are  told,  with  the  hamlet 
of  Labare  in  the  parish  of  Sainte- Croix  (department 
of  Saone-et-Loire).^  Eusebius  does  not  describe  the 
place,  but  he  depicts  the  emperor  on  horseback 
moodily  brooding  over  Maxentius's  spells.  The 
usages  of  the  time  were  cruel  in  the  extreme. 
Constantius  and  he  himself  had  not  scrupled  to 
throw  to  the  beasts  in  the  amphitheatre  of  Treves 
those  of  the  barbarian  kings  whom  they  had  succeeded 
in  capturing ;  Vce  victis,  woe  to  the  vanquished ;  the 
most  magnanimous  of  conquerors  rarely  gave  his 
prisoner  anything  more  than  the  choice  of  the  death 
by  which  he  should  die.  Either  Maxentius  or  he 
himself  was  doomed.     At  such  times  even  the  most 

^  Leon  Robin,  Croix  lumineuse  et  sacre  Cceur.     Lons-le-Saunier : 
Maret,  1876. 


126     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

courageous  warrior  tries  to  see  into  the  future.  Con- 
stantine  ruminated  on  what  had  become  of  those 
members  of  the  tetrarchy  who  had  remained  beUevers 
in  the  plurahty  of  gods.  Most  of  them  had  perished 
miserably.  Severus  had  opened  his  veins,  Maximian 
had  hanged  himself,  Galerius  had  just  died  of  a  dread- 
ful malady,  his  body  even  when  alive  falling  into 
decomposition,  and  pierced  in  all  directions  by  myriads 
of  worms.^  Of  them  all,  his  father  alone,  the  wor- 
shipper of  one  only  God,  had  expired  in  peace  and 
honour  in  the  heyday  of  his  triumph.  "  He  came  to 
the  conclusion,"  writes  Eusebius,^  "  that  these  useless 
gods  were  an  imposture,  and  he  began  to  call  upon 
the  God  of  Constantius,  praying  Him  to  lend  a 
helping  hand." 

Thereupon  a  sign  was  seen  in  heaven.  Noon  had 
passed,  and  the  sun  was  slowly  nearing  the  horizon, 
when  above  the  orb  of  day  there  appeared  a  fiery 
cross,  before  the  brilliancy  of  which  every  other  light 
paled,  and  on  which  was  inscribed  the  Greek  words 
TovTip  viKu :  In  this  sign  thou  shalt  conquer.  The 
soldiers  too  witnessed  the  cross,  and  were  astounded.^ 

The  next  night  Christ  revealed  Himself  to  the 
emperor  during  his  slumber.  He  brought  with  Him 
the  sign  which  had  been  seen  in  heaven,  and  enjoined 
on  Constantine  that  he  should  have  made  a  standard 
of  the  same  shape,  which  might  serve  as  a  rallying- 
point  in  battle,  and  would  be  a  pledge  of  certain 
victory. 

Constantine  sent  for  jewellers,  described  to  them 
what  he  had  seen,  and  ordered  them  to  reproduce  it 
in  the  shape  of  a  trophy,  which  should  be  adorned 

^  Lact.  de  morle  pers.  xxxiii. 

2  Eus.  de  vita  Coml. ;  P.G.  xx.  942. 

3  lb.  i.  28 ;  r.G.  XX.  9*4. 


THE   LABARUM  127 

with  gold  and  precious  stones/  This  trophy  received 
the  name  of  the  Labarum,  a  word  which  appears  for 
the  first  time  seventy  years  later  in  Sozomen,"  and 
which  M.  Duruy  derives  from  the  Chaldean  word 
Labar,  meaning  eternity.^ 

Eusebius  describes  at  length  the  Laharum.  It 
comprised  a  very  high  staff  {hasta),  the  top  of  which 
was  crossed  by  a  bar  {antennum) ;  this,  of  course,  re- 
sulted in  a  T-shaped  cross.  Above  the  junction  of 
the  cross-bar,  in  the  place  where  the  eagle  should 
have  been,  was  a  crown  encrusted  with  gold  and  rare 
pebbles,  in  the  centre  of  which  might  be  read  the 
first  two  letters  of  Christ's  name  X.P. — in  other 
words,  the  monogram.  From  the  cross-bar  hung  a 
kind  of  square-shaped  banner  of  purple  stuff.  Precious 
stones,  set  off  by  the  golden  embroidery  of  the  fabric, 
sparkled  in  the  sunlight.  In  the  upper  quarters  of 
the  banner  were  portraits  (variis  colof^ibus  depicti)  of 
the  emperor  and  his  children. 

The  expressions  used  by  Eusebius  would  lead  us 
to  suppose  that  there  was  never  more  than  one 
Labaruvi.  At  the  time  of  the  historian  Socrates  the 
sacred  banner  was  preserved  in  the  imperial  Buccoleon 
palace  at  Constantinople.*  Nicholas  Soemundarson 
too  saw  it  there  in  1157.^  Nicephorus  Callistus,  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  is  the  last  to  record  its  pres- 
ence.^ It  must  have  disappeared  when  Mohamed  II. 
gained  possession  of  the  capital  of  the  eastern  empire. 

With   regard   to   the   locality  where   the   miracle 

^  Eus.  Fita  Const,  i.  30;  P.G.  xx.  944. 

2  Sozomen,  H.E.  i.  4;  P.G.  Ixvii.  867. 

^  Hist,  des  Romains,  vol.  vii,  p.  42. 

4  Socrates,  H.E.  i.  2;  P.G.  Ixvii.  38. 

^  Riant,  ExiwicE  sacrev  Constant,  vol,  ii.  p.  215. 

«  Nic.  Cal.  H.E.  vii.  29;  P.G.  cxlv.  1274. 


128     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

occurred,  its  identification  with  the  hamlet  of  Labare, 
defended  by  Robin,^  and  still  more  by  M.  Desroches,^ 
but  opposed  by  M.  Ravel  Chapuis,^  has  given  rise  to 
a  heated  controversy/  At  somewhat  less  than  a  mile 
from  the  village  of  Sainte-Croix  (Saone-et-Loire)  is 
to  be  found  a  little  collection  of  dwellings,  near  which 
stands  a  modern  stone  cross,  erected  on  the  spot 
where  a  more  ancient  one  had  stood :  this  is  the 
village  of  La  Barre  or  Labare.  The  proximity  of 
the  two  places,  and  the  fact  of  their  names  being  so 
suggestive,  induced  Robin  and  Desroches  to  infer 
that  the  parish  owes  its  name  to  the  apparition, 
whilst  that  of  the  hamlet  is  due  to  the  sacred  standard 
or  Liobarum. 

But  there  are  many  reasons  against  such  an  argu- 
ment. Formerly  the  neighbourhood  of  La  Barre  was 
largely  covered  with  ponds,  of  which  the  traces  still 
remain.  As  one  of  the  archaeologists  who  took  part 
in  the  discussion  remarks,  it  is  natural  to  believe 
that  at  the  spot  where  the  hamlet  of  La  Barre  now 
stands  there  was  once  a  dam  or  barrage,  from  which 
the  hamlet  derived  its  name.^  The  same  writer  also 
points  out  that  in  853  "  there  existed  quite  close  to 
the  walls  of  Autun  a  basilica  which,  even  then,  was 
considered  ancient,^  and  which  was  dedicated  to  the 
Holy  Cross.  Not  far  from  it  is  now  found  a  hamlet 
called  La  Barre,  and  remains  of  Roman  roads  are  not 

1  Op.  cit. 

2  J.  Desroches,  Le  Laharum.     Paris  :  Champion,  1 891, 

3  In  a  pamphlet,  Un  point,  d'kistoirc  locale.  Dissertatioti  sur  le 
Labarum.     Fragny-pr6s- Autun,  1899. 

*  See  J.  B.  Martin  in  l' Universitc  catholiquc  de  Lyon,  15th  July 
1894-  (vol.  ii.) ;  Etudes,  31st  May  1895,  pp.  354,  355  ;  Revue  du  clerge 
Jrarigais,  1st  December  1897. 
^  Ravel  Chapuis,  p.  33. 
®  Olim  fundata. 


THE   LABARUM  129 

wanting  all  around."^  What  reason  is  there  then 
for  preferring  Sainte-Croix  to  Autun  ?  M.  Ravel 
Chapuis's  philological  argument  also  has  a  value  of  its 
own.  Labaruni  cannot  have  produced  Labare,  be- 
cause in  the  former  name,  the  accent  being  on  the 
antepenultimate  syllable  "  la,"  this  syllable  should 
have  remained,  but  the  other  two  should  have  been 
contracted.  .  .  .  For  instance,  the  Latin  word  dura- 
bills  in  French  becomes  durable^  not "  durabile  "  ;  like- 
wise pertica  resulted  in  per  die  ^  not  in  "  pertiche,"  etc.^ 

For  our  own  part  we  may  add  that  the  Labarum  can 
scarcely  have  given  its  name  to  the  hamlet,  because 
the  very  name  Labaj'U7n  was  unknown  even  to  Euse- 
bius,  the  only  contemporary  who  mentions  the  miracle, 
and  is  not  found  before  Sozomen,  in  the  fifth  century. 

Moreover,  for  the  argument  in  favour  of  La  Barre 
in  the  parish  of  Sainte-Croix  to  be  at  all  conclusive, 
the  name  should  be  found  in  use  only  here ;  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  France  simply  swarms  with  localities 
of  which  the  name  has  been  derived  from  the  Low 
Latin  word  BarrcE  or  BaiTum,  meaning  a  mound. 
Barrce  has  given  rise  to  La  Barre  (Var,  Tarn,  etc.), 
Les  Barres  (Loiret),  Les  Barret  (Gard),  La  Barrete 
(Somme).  Barrum  produced  Bar-sur-Aube,  Bar-sur- 
Saone,  Bar-le-Duc.  In  the  French  Postal  Directory 
we  find  that  there  are  post-offices  at  Barre-de-Mont 
(Vendee),  Barre-des-Cevennes  (Lozere),  Barret-le-Bas 
(Hautes  Alpes),  Barre-en-Ouch  (Eure),  Les  Barres 
(Vienne).  The  situation  and  the  lie  of  the  ground  of 
the  hamlet  of  Sainte-Croix  are  quite  sufficient  to  ex- 
plain its  name  without  having  recourse  to  fanciful 
hypotheses.^ 

1  Ravel  Chapuis,  p.  34.  2  /^  p^  33^ 

^  Hippolyte   Cocheris,    Origine   et  formation   des   noms   de   lieux, 
Paris:  Delagrave,  1885^  p.  118, 
I 


130     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Nor  does  Sainte-Croix  even  lie  on  the  probable 
route  followed  by  Constantine's  army.  Setting  out 
from  Treves,  with  the  Segusio  Pass,  near  Mont  Cenis, 
as  his  objective,  he  must  have  taken  the  shortest 
road — i.e.  through  Besan^on  (where  St.  Helena  is  said 
to  have  rested),  and  the  valleys  of  the  Doubs  and 
the  Saone,  passing  Chalons  {castrum  Cabilonensc), 
Macon  {Matascense  oppidum,  Matisco),  Lyons  {Lug- 
dunuvi)^  Vienne,  and  so  across  the  Alpes  Cotticu.  He 
would  not  have  been  likely  to  go  out  of  his  way  by 
deviating  to  the  right  in  the  direction  of  Autun,  or 
to  the  left  in  that  of  Sainte-Croix. 

Eusebius's  Church  History  gives  us  to  understand 
that  immediately  after  his  vision  Constantine  took  by 
storm,  one  after  the  other,  the  fortresses  of  Segusio 
or  Susa,  Turin,  Vercelli,  Brescia,  Verona,  and  Milan. 
It  was,  therefore,  after  having  left  Vienne,  and  some- 
where in  the  vicinity  of  the  Alps,  that  the  event  took 
place  which  proved  the  turning-point  of  history.  .  .  . 
But  a  question  remains :  Did  the  event  ever  really 
occur  ? 

The  vision  of  the  fiery  cross  is  not  an  article  of 
faith,  consequently  I  may  be  allowed  to  make  use  of 
the  freedom  which  the  Church  leaves  us  in  such 
matters,  and  expose,  I  trust  with  all  the  respect  due 
to  a  hoary  tradition,  the  reasons  for  which  I  am 
inclined  to  consider  it  apocryphal.  Firstly,  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  how  a  general,  who  had  just 
arrived  at  one  of  the  most  forsaken  spots  in  Gaul, 
could  procure  jewellers  to  design  and  execute  in  a 
single  night  a  work  of  art  of  which  both  the  em- 
broidery and  the  jewellery  would  have  required  long 
and  patient  toil.  We  should  understand  the  matter 
better  if  Helena  had  had  the  trophy  made  at  Treves, 
and  if  Constantine   had   taken  it  with   him  in  his 


THE   LABARUM  131 

luggage,  and  then,  at  the  psychological  moment,  pre- 
sented it  as  a  sacred  sign  to  his  troops. 

Again  in  312  the  emperor  had  only  one  child, 
Crispus.  Fausta  bore  no  children  until  317.  If, 
then,  her  children's  portraits  were  painted  on  the 
vexillum^  the  vexiltum  described  by  Eusebius  must 
have  been  a  new  trophy,  or  at  any  rate,  as  Gretser 
admits,^  it  must  have  been  subjected  to  certain 
alterations. 

Yet  again  the  only  early  testimonies  to  the  miracle 
are  those  of  Eusebius  and  of  the  Acts  of  the  martyr 
Artemius.  How  can  we  explain  the  absence  of  any 
reference  to  it  among  the  many  panegyrics  spoken 
before  the  emperor  and  printed  in  Volume  viii.  of 
Migne's  Latin  Patrology  ?  The  other  chroniclers, 
Socrates,^  Zonaras,^  Philostorgius,*  Cedrenus,^  and 
Nicephorus  Callistus^  do  no  more  than  reproduce 
Eusebius's  account  with  faulty  additions  of  their  own. 
According  to  M.  de  Broglie,  who  sums  up  their 
testimonies,^  they  do  not  even  agree  as  to  the  place 
where  the  miracle  occurred.  Philostorgius  states 
"  that  at  the  height  of  the  battle  against  Maxentius 
the  sign  of  the  cross  was  seen  stretching  far  in  the 
direction  of  the  east,  and  formed  by  a  wondrous  light, 
with  stars  ranged  round  about  it  in  the  shape  of  a 
rainbow,  and  tracing  certain  characters."  As  regards 
the  various  apocryphal  writers  whom  we  shall  quote 
when  studying  the  legends  of  the  Finding  of  the 

^  Jacobus  Gretser,  De  cruce  Christi  (^Ingoldstadt,  I6OO),  vol,  i.  lib. 
ii.  c.  37-39;  Toupin,  Hist,  de  S.  Helene,  p,  58,  note  1. 
^  H.E.  i.  2;  P.G.  Ixvii.  38. 

3  Annul,  xiii.  1  ;  P.G.  cxxxiv.  1097. 

4  H.E.  i.  6  (epitome  in  P.G.  Ixv.  463). 
^  Hist.  Co7np.;  P.G.  cxxi,  518. 

6  viii.  3;  P.G.  cxlvi.  I6. 

'^  Consiantin,  vol.  i.  pp.  458-459. 


132      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Cross,  they  locate  the  miracle  in  even  more  unex- 
pected places. 

The  martyr  Artemius,  who  had  fought  with  Con- 
stantine,  in  the  well-known  oration  which  preceded 
his  martyrdom,  thus  replies  to  Julian  the  Apostate  ^ : 
"  Thou  dost  object  that  Constantine  allowed  himself 
to  be  drawn  over  to  Christianity  by  a  ridiculous  piece 
of  superstition.  Now  I  was  in  the  ranks  of  his  army 
at  the  time  of  his  expedition  against  JVIaxentius.  I 
saw  with  my  own  eyes  a  cross,  more  dazzling  even 
than  the  sun,  appear  in  mid-air  about  the  middle  of 
the  day.  I,  and  likewise  the  whole  army,  saw  the 
Greek  inscription  in  letters  of  fire  which  foretold  our 
victory  {tovtco  vIku,  hoc  vince).  ...  If  thou  believest 
me  not  there  remain  plenty  other  eye-witnesses ; 
ask  them." 

Is  this  document  authentic  ?  The  best  Catholic 
writers  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  not.  JNl.  de  Broglie, 
whose  orthodoxy  and  learning  are  certainly  above  sus- 
picion, writes  ^ :  "  We  shall  not  dwell  on  the  oration 
of  the  Duke  Artemius  to  Julian,  which  was  copied  by 
Baronius  from  Surius.  The  acts  of  Surius  are  of  a 
far  too  untrustworthy  character." 

Man's  eyes  cannot  bear  to  gaze  at  the  sun ;  how 
then  can  we  explain  that  the  soldiers  without  a  new 
and  unwarrantable  miracle — since  it  would  have  to 
be  repeated  in  some  90,000  instances — were  able, 
without  being  blinded,  to  read  a  text  of  which  the 
characters  were  "  more  dazzling  than  the  sun  "  ? 

It  is  true  that  Eusebius,  who  saw  nothing,  adds : 
"  Had  a  stranger  recounted  this  wonder  the  hearer 
would  have  been  allowed  to  question  his  veracity ; 
but  it  was  our  own  invincible  emperor  who  told  us 

^  Ada  SS.     20th  October.      Fita  S.  Artemii,  45. 
2  Conslantin,  vol.  i.  p.  458. 


THE   LABARUM  133 

of  it,  who  told  us  who  are  now  writing  this  history 
long  after,  at  a  time  when  we  had  the  favour  of  his 
acquaintance  and  friendship,  and  who  also  confirmed 
the  exactness  of  his  narrative  by  a  solemn  oath. 
Who  then  can  dare  to  doubt  ?  "  ^ 

But  the  worthy  Bishop  of  Csesarea  has  told  so 
many  tales  of  Constantine  that  even  the  most  credu- 
lous historian  is  bound  to  discount  much  of  what  he 
says.  Was  Eusebius  not  found  to  state  that,  after 
the  battle  of  the  Milvian  Bridge,  God,  not  content 
with  inspiring  Constantine  by  dreams,  actually  mani- 
fested Himself  to  him  in  bodily  form,  and  instructed 
him  as  to  his  future  conduct  ?  ^  As  the  result  was  a 
series  of  summary  executions,  this  strange  piece  of 
flattery  on  the  part  of  Eusebius  scarcely  falls  short 
of  blasphemy.  If  Constantine  really  told  him  such 
tales  as  these,  then  it  must  have  been  through  a  wish 
of  spreading,  on  his  own  behalf,  fables  similar  to 
those  concerning  Numa  Pompilius  and  the  nymph 
Egeria. 

Exaggeration  was  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  time. 
Pagans  and  Christians  vied  with  each  other  in  in- 
venting new  wonders.  The  sovereign,  doubtless, 
smiled  at  all  this  well-meant  flattery.  He  had  not  a 
word  of  reproach  to  say  when  a  pagan  orator  in  his 
presence  declared  that  Constantius  Chlorus  had  risen 
from  the  grave,  and  hovering  in  the  sky,  had  led  the 
troops  to  conquest.^  After  a  time  Constantine  grew 
weary  of  being  compared  to  the  poor  heroes  of  the 
Iliad  and  of  the  ^Eneid  ;  he  wished  to  be  made  equal 
to  the  prophets  of  Israel. 

1  Eus.  de  Vita  Const. ;  P.G.  xx.  943. 

2  Eus.  de  Vita  Const. ;  P.G.  xx.  963. 

3  Ducebat  hos  (credo)  Constantius  pater,  qui  terrarum  triumphis 
altiori  tibi  cesserat.     Nazarius,  Pan.  Const.  14  {P.L.  viii.  col.  593). 


134     THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

The  legend  given  by  Eusebius  is  all  the  more  sus- 
picious because  it  disagrees  with  other  contemporary 
records.  Lactantius,  the  tutor  of  Crispus,  and  a 
familiar  figure  at  the  court,  but  a  man  who  through- 
out preserved  a  moderation  and  dignity  of  which  the 
Bishop  of  CiEsarea  was  quite  incapable,  has  nothing  to 
say  of  the  appearance  of  a  cross  in  the  skies.  His 
silence  gives  the  death-blow  to  the  miracle  of  La 
Barre,  for  it  must  be  recollected  that  he  too  believed 
in  a  divine  intervention,  but  with  this  difference  that 
it  occurred  in  the  night  before  the  battle,  and  amidst 
other  circumstances,  of  which  we  shall  speak  im- 
mediately. 

Some  good  people,  as  we  have  already  hinted, 
believe  that  the  object  of  the  miracle  was  to  teach 
the  Christians  the  real  form  of  the  Cross,  which  had 
been  forgotten.  Public  opinion,  we  are  told,  wavered 
between  the  four-branched  cross — the  true  one — and 
the  T-shaped,  three-branched  cross.  The  latter  was 
well  known  in  Rome,  where  it  stood  as  a  threat  in  the 
dormitories  of  the  slaves.  When  the  page-boy  at  the 
Palatine  amused  himself  by  scratching  on  the  wall  a 
caricature  of  Christ,  the  cross  he  chose  to  figure  was 
the  T-shaped  crux  patibulata.  Now  this  is  all  very 
well,  but  the  argument  is  based  on  a  mistake.  Surely 
God  Himself  did  not  share  in  the  common  error! 
Yet  the  Labarum  which  was  made  to  the  image  of 
the  supposed  vision  was  simply  the  old  T-shaped 
cross,  and  not  the  cross  of  Golgotha. 

Eusebius  depicts  Constantine  seated  in  the  midst 
of  his  jewellers  and  describing  to  them  the  mysterious 
sign  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  shown  from 
heaven.  But,  alas  !  history  gives  the  lie  to  the  picture. 
The  old  standard  of  the  legions  ^  was  in  the  shape  of 

1  Guhl  &  Koner,  La  vie  antique.     Trawinski's  trans,  p.  470. 


THE   LABARUM  135 

a  T,  and  was  crowned  by  the  eagle,  and  on  the  cross- 
beam there  hung  a  square  purple  bannerette.  When 
they  saw  it  pass,  Tertullian  and  Minutius  Felix  were 
able  to  exclaim :  "  Your  trophies  are  the  image  of  the 
Cross.  All  unknowingly  you  adore  the  Cross  which 
you  persecute."  Now  the  frame  of  the  Labarum 
differed  in  nothing  from  the  older  standard,  saving  in 
its  larger  size.  There  was  therefore  no  need  for  Con- 
stantine  to  take  the  trouble  of  explaining  to  his 
artisans  something  which  everyone  already  knew. 

The  eagles,  the  signuvi  of  the  trophy,  were  con- 
sidered as  the  watch-gods  of  the  legions.^  In  the 
camps  they  were  shut  up  in  an  improvised  sanctuary, 
which  thus  became  a  sort  of  sacred  temple  and  refuge.^ 
Constantine  was  indeed  instrumental  in  supplanting 
these  eagles  by  the  monogram  of  Christ,  but  did  his 
vision  furnish  the  prototype  of  the  monogram  ?  No, 
for  as  we  have  already  seen  ^  the  monogram  is  found 
on  a  tombstone  of  a.d.  268.  Diocletian's  martyrs 
may  have  worn  it  round  their  necks  when  being 
driven  to  the  Coliseum. 

Hence  the  vision  resulted  in  not  one  single  real 
innovation ;  or,  to  sum  up,  the  Labarum  consists 
merely  of  a  juxtaposition  of  elements,  which  were 
already  public  property.  If  its  preparing  required 
care  and  patient  work,  then  we  are  justified  in  con- 
sidering that  it  was  put  together  at  Treves  in  the 
quiet  which  preceded  the  war,  and  that  it  was  made, 
not  by  the  yet  pagan  Constantine,  but  by  his  mother. 
Was  it  Fausta  who  prevented  this  standard  being 
displayed  at  the  departure  from  Treves,  and  did  her 
evil  influence  grow  less  and  less  as  Constantine  neared 

1  Numina  legionis  (Herod,  iv.  4). 

2  Tacitus,  Annals,  i.  39. 
^  See  above,  p.  88. 


136     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Italy  ?  And  did  a  day  come  at  last  when,  moved  by 
grace  and  the  counsels  of  his  mother,  Constantine 
finally  resolved  to  unfurl  the  ensign  and  set  it  in  front 
of  his  army  ?  1  believe  this  is  really  what  occurred  ; 
but,  of  course,  at  this  distance  of  time,  and  in  the 
absence  of  testimonies,  it  does  not  admit  of  proof. 
Christian  France  was  to  be  born  of  an  act  of  faith 
made  by  Clovis  in  the  God  of  Clotilda  on  the  battle- 
field of  Tolbiac.  Is  it  not  antecedently  probable 
that  the  Christian  empire  of  Rome  was  born  of  an  act 
of  faith  made  by  Constantine,  in  the  supreme  moment 
before  the  opening  of  the  campaign,  in  the  God  of  his 
mother  Helena  ?  If  so,  then  God's  intervention,  though 
less  dramatic,  would  not  be  less  wonderful,  for  the 
most  touching  of  all  miracles  are  those  which  hide 
themselves  under  the  form  of  grace. 

TovTw  viKa,  these  are  the  words  which,  we  are  told, 
were  seen  in  the  skies.  Is  it  not  somewhat  strange  that 
Providence  should  thus  have  addressed  in  Greek  the 
Latin  legionaries  and  the  Britons,  Gauls,  and  Franks 
who  formed  their  auxiliaries  ?  Greek  was  the  daily 
language  of  Helena  and  Constantine,  and  my  impres- 
sion is  that  the  words  were  spoken  not  by  the  skies, 
but  by  the  angel,  still  clad  in  mortal  flesh,  who  was 
soon  to  be  the  means  of  unearthing  the  Cross  of 
Christ. 

Whichever  opinion  we  prefer,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  Constantine's  army  entered  Italy  marching  be- 
hind a  standard  capped  with  Christ's  initials  in  place 
of  the  olden  eagle. 

Constantine  had  staked  his  all  on  our  Saviour's 
side,  nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  that  this  change  in 
his  mind  was  in  no  sense  determined  by  worldly 
motives.  Persecution  had  drummed  all  Christians  out 
of  the  army.     The  majority  of  the  Roman  population 


THE   LAB  ARUM  137 

was  pagan,  and  remained  pagan  until  the  barbarian 
invasions.  The  countrysides  remained  so  staunch  to 
the  gods  of  their  fathers  that  even  Charlemagne  will 
be  hard  put  to  convert  them.^  M.  Beugnot  estimates 
that  at  the  time  Christians  formed  only  a  twentieth 
part  of  the  population  of  the  empire.^  Hence  Con- 
stantine  in  siding  with  them  was  disregarding  the 
rules  of  human  prudence,^  compromising  his  popularity 
and  putting  himself  in  opposition  with  the  majority. 
But  Helena's  God  was  merciful,  and  made  him  vic- 
torious both  over  men  and  human  logic. 

After  a  succession  of  battles  the  little  army  arrived 
at  the  gates  of  Rome.  So  far  the  monogram  had 
proved  luckier  than  all  Maxentius's  spells.  But  there 
remained  now  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  business, 
a  task  which  the  trained  legions  of  Severus  and 
Galerius  had  refused  to  undertake,  and  which  every 
pagan  soldier  considered  as  nothing  short  of  sacrilege — 
the  assault  of  the  Eternal  City  and  of  its  sacred  Capitol. 
But  the  legions  were  intoxicated  with  their  recent 
victories,  and  would  stop  at  nothing. 

Const  ant  ine  was  approaching  Rome  through 
Etruria  by  the  Via  Flaminia,  and  was  yet  some 
distance  from  the  Milvian  Bridge,  which  spans  the 
Tiber.  To  gain  their  ends,  Maxentius's  180,000 
soldiers  had  only  to  oppose  the  passage  over  the 
Tiber,  and  if  beaten  then  retire  on  Rome,  in  which 
stronghold  they  could  affiard  to  laugh  at  their 
enemies.      But    in    the   event    Maxentius   was    not 


1  Baluze,  Capit.  reg.  Franc,  passim. 

2  [This  seems  a  low  estimate,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
many  of  the  pagans  were  only  nominally  such ;  probably  the 
number  of  formal  pagans  was  not  very  much  greater  than  the 
number  of  formal  Christians. — Trans.'\ 

^  Boissier,  La  Fin  du  paganisme,  vol.  i.  pp.  27-28. 


138      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

merely  forced  to  retreat ;  he  was  utterly  vanquished. 
Constantine,  who  could  hardly  believe  his  goodfortune, 
saw  with  astonishment  his  enemy  doing  all  that  was 
possible  to  facilitate  the  northerners'  victory.  He 
saw  him  build  a  bridge  parallel  with  that  of  Milvius, 
cross  it  with  his  whole  army,  and  then  by  an  astound- 
ing reversal  of  all  classic  strategy,  give  battle  with  his 
back  to  the  river. 

"  Constantine,"  writes  M.  de  Broglie,^  "  met  the 
advanced  posts  of  the  enemy  at  a  little  place  called 
Saxa  rubra,  about  nine  miles  from  Rome  and  six 
from  the  Milvian  Bridge.  .  .  .  From  the  heights 
which  here  rise  about  the  Via  Flaminia  we  can  see 
the  whole  plain  of  Latium,  the  theatre  of  those  bitter 
conflicts  which  laid  the  foundation  of  Roman  great- 
ness. At  the  foot  of  an  amphitheatre  of  mountains 
the  great  city  rears  its  head,  casting  the  reflections  of 
its  buildings  into  the  yellow  flood  of  the  Tiber. 
Never  did  Providence  prepare  a  more  fitting  frame- 
work for  so  solemn  a  combat.  On  the  summits  of 
those  seven  hills,  loaded  with  temples,  palaces, 
memories,  and  years,  all  the  gods  of  the  ancient 
world  seemed  to  be  looking  in  awe  and  expectation 
for  the  first  appearance  in  the  distance  of  the  Standard 
of  the  Cross." 

Constantine  during  that  night  between  the  27th 
and  28th  of  October  which  preceded  the  renewal  of 
the  face  of  the  earth  was  slumbering  peacefully, 
when  the  God  of  Helena  made  His  presence  felt. 
He  heard  in  his  dream  a  voice  commanding  liim  to 
paint  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  his  soldiers'  shields,  and 
then  to  start  the  battle.  He  awoke  with  a  start,  and 
as  soon  as  day  broke '^  he  had  the   mystic  sign  X 

^  Op.  cit.  vol.  i.  pp.  228-229. 

^Lact,  de  morte  pers.  xliv. ;  P.L.  vii.  26 1. 


THE   LABARUM  139 

engraved  on  all  the  bucklers.  Then  the  clarions  gave 
the  signal  to  attack.  The  bloody  gods  of  Rome  could 
now  see  the  sign  of  the  Crucified,  with  its  diamonds 
blazing  in  the  light  of  the  rising  sun,  on  the  dark  back- 
ground formed  by  the  dense  mass  of  advancing  men. 

The  pagan  army  was  routed,  and  perished  in  crowds 
in  the  flooded  Tiber.  The  Christians  could  only 
compare  the  disaster  with  that  of  the  Egyptians 
drowned  in  the  Red  Sea.  Maxentius,  now  that  he 
could  no  longer  gratify  his  passions,  drowned  himself ; 
his  head  was  stuck  on  a  lance,  and  carried  in  front  of 
his  brother-in-law  to  Rome.  The  Senate  and  the 
populace,  as  was  usual,  acclaimed  the  victor,  and 
erected  a  triumphal  arch  in  his  honour. 

Constantine  had  his  mother  brought  to  Rome,  and 
out  of  the  treasury  bought  her  the  Sessorian  palace 
near  the  gardens  of  Heliogabalus.  On  the  Forum, 
in  front  of  the  Capitol,  he  had  his  own  statue  erected, 
in  which  he  is  represented  holding  in  his  right  hand 
a  lance  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  On  the  pedestal  was 
inscribed :  *'  By  this  salutary  sign  of  true  courage 
1  delivered  your  city  from  the  yoke  of  tyranny, 
and  restored  to  the  Senate  and  the  liberated  Roman 
people  the  splendour  of  their  ancient  fame."^  The 
statue  was  overthrown  by  the  barbarians,  but  it  was 
recovered  in  the  pontificate  of  Clement  XI.,  and 
placed  at  the  entrance  to  the  Lateran  basilica."  The 
next  year  (313)  the  edict  of  Milan  proclaimed  freedom 
of  conscience  in  words,  in  comparison  with  which  the 
"  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man  "  seems  feeble. 
The  Beast  was  vanquished,  and  the  Triumphant 
Cross  made  its  entry  into  public  life,  and  took 
possession  of  the  buildings  and  basilicas. 

1  Eus.  de  Vita  Const,  i.  40 ;  P.L.  viii.  27. 
-  Toupin^  op.  cit.  p.  62, 


140     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Being  more  of  a  man  of  the  world,  Constantine  did 
not,  like  Clovis,  immediately  solicit  baptism ;  he  feared 
that  by  so  doing  he  might  curtail  his  freedom.  So 
long  as  his  mother  lived  his  sympathies  were  with 
the  Orthodox,  but  after  her  death  he  turned  to  the 
Arians.  He  never  yielded  up  his  heart  to  God,  but 
strove  to  repay  the  debt  he  owed  Him,  by  his  munifi- 
cence towards  the  Church  ;  he  lived  to  learn  to  what 
end  a  catechumen,  who  resists  the  call  of  grace,  must 
inevitably  come  ;  he  never  was  a  great  Christian,  but 
he  remained  to  the  end  a  careful  politician  and  a 
patron  of  religion. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE  TRUE  CROSS 

INIacarius,  whose  name  in  Greek  ^  is  the  equivalent 
of  the  Latin  name  Fortunatus,  and  who,  under 
Constantine,  was  bishop  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem, 
seems  to  have  been  the  real  instigator  of  the  enter- 
prise which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  True 
Cross.  Among  the  clergy  his  virtues  had  earned 
him  an  esteem  which  bordered  on  veneration.' 
St.  Athanasius  reckoned  him  among  apostolic 
men.^ 

He  attended  the  opening  sessions  of  the  Nicene 
Council  (5th  or  6th  July  325*).  Jerusalem,  his  see, 
was  but  a  city  of  the  province  of  Palestine,  of  which 
the  capital  was  Csesarea.  As  the  Church  had  adopted 
the  civil  territorial  divisions,  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem 
was  only  reckoned  as  a  suffragan  of  the  metropolitan 
bishop  of  Csesarea.  Macarius,  considering  that  this 
secondary  position  was  a  slight  on  the  see  which 
Christ  had  rendered  famous  by  His  death,  requested 
that  he  should  be  declared  independent,  and  possibly 
also  laid  claim  to  the  patriarchate. 

The  Council  could  not,  however,  be  brought  to 
see  things  in  this  light,  and  answered  his  request  by 
its  eighth  canon :  "  The  bishop  of  JElia,  Capitolina 
retains  the  honour  which  he  has  by  ancient  tradition, 

^   MaKaptos. 

2  Theodoret,  H.E.  i.  17 ;  P.G.  Ixxxii.  96o. 
^  Athan.  Ep.  ad  episc.  Mgypti  et  Libyce',  P.G.  xxv. 
*  Duruy,  Hist,  des  Romains,  vol.  vii.  p.  114. 
141 


142     THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

but  without  prejudice,  to  the  supremacy  of  the 
metropolitan."^ 

It  is  generally  thought  that  Helena  followed  her 
son  to  Nica^a,  that  JNlacarius  spoke  to  them  of  the 
permanent  sacrilege  constituted  by  the  temples  of 
Jupiter  and  Venus  established  over  the  Holy  Places, 
and  that  the  sovereigns  were  moved  by  the  bishop's 
eloquence.  In  effect,  Constantine  gave  him  orders  to 
seek  out,  as  soon  as  he  should  have  returned,  the  spots 
sanctified  by  the  Resurrection  and  Passion."  He  also 
expressed  a  wish  that,  in  memory  of  the  peace  he  had 
given  to  the  Church,  a  grand  basilica  should  be  built. ^ 
By  so  doing,  he  added,  he  would  merely  be  fulfilling 
a  duty  which  he  had  imposed  on  himself^  In  taking 
leave  of  the  bishop  he  gave  him  a  pallium  in  cloth  of 
gold  as  a  testimonial  of  his  exceptional  esteem.^  This 
was  a  sort  of  imperial  ratification  of  the  privilege 
accorded  to  Macarius  by  the  Council ;  for  the  pallium, 
a  kind  of  collar  to  which  were  suspended  two  bands, 
one  in  front  and  one  behind,  was  a  priestly  ornament 
worn  only  by  archbishops  and  certain  privileged 
bishops.*^ 

Constantine  returned  to  Rome  to  celebrate  his 
vicennalia.  He  arrived  about  the  month  of  July  326. 
The  populace,  which  had  remained  faithful  to  its 
ancient  deities,  and  had  been  vexed  by  the  favours 
which  he  had  just  bestowed  on  the  Christians,  gave 
him  a  hostile  reception,  and  stoned  his  statues.    Fausta 

^  Rufinus,  H.E.  i.  6,  The  see  of  Jerusalem  finally  secured  its 
rights  at  the  Council  of  Chalcedonia, 

-  Theoph.  Chronogr.  ;  P.G.  cviii.  103. 

3  Sozomen,  H.E.  ii.  1  ;  P.G.  Ixvii. 

*  Eus.  de  Vila  Const,  iii.  25. 

^  Theodoret,  H.E.  ii.  27.  This  pallium  was  afterwards  sold  by 
Cyril,  the  successor  of  Macarius,  to  help  the  needy  during  a  famine. 

"  Martigny,  Diet,  des  antiquitcs  chret.  (art.  Pallium). 


RECOVERY  OF  THE  TRUE  CROSS  143 

too,  his  second  wife  and  his  evil  genius,  had  been 
playing  the  part  of  the  traitress.  Since  the  birth  of 
her  first  child  she  had  begun  to  be  jealous  of  Crispus, 
the  son  of  her  husband's  first  union.  He  was  brilliant, 
young,  and  handsome,  beloved  of  the  people,  success- 
ful in  the  wars,  and,  moreover,  he  was  heir-presumptive 
to  the  throne.  She  obtained  the  aid  of  several  high- 
placed  functionaries,  and  proceeded  to  cajole  Con- 
stantine,  who  was  then  alone,  as  his  mother  had  not 
yet  returned.  Of  what  crime  she  accused  Crispus 
we  have  no  means  of  telling.  Did  she  pretend  that 
he  had  been  guilty  of  high  treason  ?  Or  did  she 
repeat  the  odious  calumny  of  Potiphar's  wife  ?  ^  At 
any  rate  the  upshot  of  her  interview  was  that  Crispus 
was,  without  any  reason  being  given,  arrested,  and 
imprisoned  at  Paula  in  Istria.  Soon  after  it  trans- 
pired that  he  had  died,  either  by  poison  or  by  the 
sword. 

Strictly  and  legally  speaking,  Constantine  did  not 
thereby  commit  a  crime.  He  had  simply  made  use 
of  the  powers  which  were  his  by  custom.  "  From  the 
very  beginning  of  the  empire,"  wi'ites  M.  Laboulaye, 
"  we  find  princes  performing  the  office  of  judges — and 
this  without  consulting  the  Senate — on  all  those  who 
had  been  unfortunate  enough  to  prove  themselves 
displeasing.  Augustus,  Tiberius,  Caligula,  Claudius, 
Nero,  Vitellius,  Vespasian,  Titus,  Domitian,  Adrian, 
had  a  speedy  way  of  ridding  themselves  of  those 
whom  they  disliked."-^  This  was  a  fortiori  the  usage 
when  the  crime  was  one  of  Use  ma  jest  e.  It  was  an 
institution  that  in  such  cases  the  plaintiff  should  be 
also  the  judge.  If  in  the  case  of  Crispus  there  was  a 
question  of  the  empress's  or  the  emperor's  honour,  we 

1  Zosimus,  ii.  29-30;  Philost.  U.E.  ii.  4;  Epitome,  P.G.  Ixv,  467. 

2  I^ssai  sur  les  his  criminelles  des  RomainSy  p.  430. 


144      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

can  well  understand  the  secrecy  of  the  proceedings, 
which  were  equivalent  to  a  court  sitting  with  closed 
doors. 

No  sooner  had  the  tragedy  been  enacted  than 
Helena  arrived.  She  had  been  detained  in  the  East, 
probably  by  the  preparations  for  her  approaching 
journey  to  Jerusalem.  She  had  always  idolised 
Crispus,  and  with  all  the  authority  of  an  outraged 
mother  she  required  of  her  son  an  account  of  her 
grandchild's  blood.  Her  words  brought  bitter  re- 
morse to  the  heart  of  the  still  pagan  emperor.  JNlatters 
were  again  gone  into,  and  though,  alas,  too  late, 
Crispus's  innocence  was  established,  and  doubtless 
too  Fausta's  plot  then  came  to  light.  Constantine, 
mad  with  rage  and  sorrow,  resolved  on  immediate 
revenge,  and  this  time  with  some  justification. 
Several  of  his  counsellors  paid  for  their  false  testi- 
mony with  their  heads  ;  and  as  for  Fausta,  she  perished, 
strangled  in  a  bath  of  boiling  water. 

These  horrors  seemed  to  have  happened  in  the 
months  of  July  and  August  326.^  The  Christians 
were  terrified,  but  the  pagans,  who  affected  to  scorn 
the  emperor,  were  filled  with  joy.  Some  unknown 
hand  wrote  on  the  palace-gate  the  sarcastic  lines : 
"  Why  tell  of  the  golden  age  ?  'tis  now  the  age  of 
pearls — Nero's  pearls.'"' 

Constantine  could  now  no  longer  venture  out  of 
doors  without  being  subjected  to  glances  of  con- 
tempt and  hatred.  At  every  step  too  he  foimd 
memories  of  his  child  and  of  his  wife  rising  up  like 
spirits  to  reproach  him.  He  suddenly  resolved  to 
flee  from  Rome,  and  carry  his  government  with  him, 

1  De  Broglie,  Constantin,  7th  ed.  vol.  ii.  p.  113. 
2  Saturni  aurea  secla  quis  requiret 
Sunt  haec  gemmae,  sed  Neroniana. 


RECOVERY  OF  THE  TRUE  CROSS  145 

to  Nicomedia,  and  there  to  stay  till  Constantinople 
had  been  built.  To  the  Pope  of  Rome^  he  made 
over  as  a  gift  the  palace  of  the  unfortunate  Fausta, 
on  which  the  church  of  St.  John  in  the  Lateran  was 
afterwards  built.  We  know  that  on  the  7th  July 
326  he  was  still  in  Rome,  for  he  there  promulgated 
a  law."  From  the  Theodosian  Code  we  gather  that 
he  was  at  Spoleto  at  the  beginning  of  October.^  At 
that  time  the  crossing  of  the  Mediterranean  was  a 
lengthy  business ;  probably  he  did  not  arrive  at 
Nicomedia  before  the  end  of  326  or  the  beginning 
of  327. 

St.  Helena  carried  her  troubles  to  the  foot  of  the 
altars.  So  as  to  avoid  dwelling  on  Crispus,  she  con- 
stantly allowed  her  thoughts  to  drift  to  the  con- 
versations she  had  had  with  Macarius,  and  to  her 
projected  visit  to  the  Holy  Land ;  in  the  ardour  of 
her  faith  she  dreamed  of  overthrowing  the  walls  of 
the  pagan  ^Elia  Capitolina,  and  restoring  to  the 
light  Calvary  and  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ;  still  more,  she 
wished  to  find  the  True  Cross,  which  had  disappeared 
so  mysteriously  and  completely  that  no  man  had 
ever  seen  it  or  knew  where  it  lay.^ 

The  Fathers  of  the  Church  had  no  hesitation  in 
declaring  that  this  besetting  thought  of  hers  was 
due  to  inspiration.^  Then  later  on  came  dreams ; 
now  the  early  Church  was  very  prone  to  take  seriously 
the  dreams  of  aged  people.  The  general  belief  was 
that  in  the  night,  when  the  body  is  plunged  in  sleep, 

^  The  title  of  pope  was  at  the  time  common  to  many. 

2  De  infirmandis  his  quae  sub  tyrannis  aut  Barbaris  gesta  sunt. 
P.L.  viii.  315. 

3  Theodosian  Code,  XVI.  v.  1  ;  1  and  2. 
*  Sozomen,  H.E.  ii.  1. 

^  Paulinas  of  Nola,  ep.  ad  Sev.  31. 
K 


146     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  soul  is  more  ready  to  hear  freely  the  voice  of 
God.  The  Apostle  Peter  speaking  to  the  Jews  says : 
"  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  last  days,  I  will 
pour  out  of  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh,  and  your  sons 
and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy,  and  your  young 
men  shall  see  visions,  and  you7'  old  men  shall  dream 
dreams."  ^  It  was  in  her  dreams  that  St.  Helena  re- 
ceived orders  to  depart,^  and  the  visions  she  had 
were  so  precise  in  their  detail  that  she  could  point  out 
the  very  spot  where  the  diggers  should  commence.^ 

Constantine  dearly  loved  his  mother ;  he  had  as- 
sociated her  with  himself  as  Augusta.  He  was  wont 
to  follow  her  counsels,  and  he  not  only  willingly  gave 
her  leave  to  embark  on  her  expedition,  but  also  con- 
tributed a  great  sum  out  of  the  public  treasury  * 
towards  defraying  her  expenses,  and  furnished  her 
with  a  rescript  empowering  her  to  remove  the 
esplanade  at  ^lia.^ 

In  the  meantime  the  Jews,  taking  advantage  of 
the  quiet  times  which  had  followed  the  fall  of 
Maximin  and  Licinius,  were  coming  back  one  by 
one  to  the  old  centre  of  their  race.  They  hoped  to 
rebuild  their  Temple  in  the  shadow  of  the  future 
basilica.*^  Constantine  may  possibly  have  feared  an 
attack  from  them ;  at  any  rate  he  gave  Helena  an 
escort,  which  in  the  event  turned  out  very  useful. 
"  The  legionaries  had  conquered  the  world  by  the 
pick  as  much  as  by  the  sword."  ^     With  the  help 

1  Actsii.  17. 

^Theoph.  Chronogr.    a.d.  317. 

^  Ad    locum    coelesti    sibi    indicio    designatum    (Rufinus,   H.E. 
I.  vii.  ;  P.L.  xxi.  476). 

*  Paulinus  of  Nola  {ep.  ad  Sev.  31). 

^  Paulinus,  ib. 

•^  Dom  Marie  Bernard,  L'Eglise  devant  les  Barbares,  vol.  i.  p  40. 

''  Duruy. 


RECOVERY  OF  THE  TRUE  CROSS  147 

of  their  picks  they  were  now  about  to  crown  their 
conquest  of  the  world  by  finding  the  rehcs  of  Christ. 

We  have  no  means  of  deciding  whether  Helena's 
starting-point  for  her  pilgrimage  was  Rome  or  Nico- 
media,  or  whether  she  travelled  alone,  or  in  the 
company  of  her  son  when  he  transferred  his  capital 
to  the  East.  But  it  seems  more  probable  that,  in 
order  to  take  on  board  her  escort,  to  obtain  the 
papers  authorising  her  to  take  possession  of  the  land 
she  required,  and  also  the  vast  sums  of  money 
necessary  for  the  work,  she  must  have  first  paid  a 
visit  to  Nicomedia.  Hence  the  date  of  her  voyage 
to  the  East  was  not  much  later,  if  at  all,  than  the 
voyage  of  Constantine  alluded  to  above. 

De  Vogiie,  Guerin,  Toupin,^  Rohault  de  Fleury, 
and  Couret^  believe  that  she  reached  Jerusalem  in 
December  326.  De  Broglie  and  Duruy  contend 
that  this  happened  in  January  327.  In  spite  of  her 
great  age — she  was  then  in  her  eightieth  year — the 
empress  performed  the  journey  without  difficulty,^ 
escorted  by  the  soldiers,  and  followed  by  waggons 
loaded  with  coined  silver.^ 

As  soon  as  Macarius  heard  of  her  arrival  he  con- 
voked all  the  bishops  of  the  province,^  and  went  to 
meet  her,  receiving  her  with  all  due  honours  ;  ^  in  fact, 
with  a  pomp  entirely  without  precedent,  especially 
then,  when  the  era  of  the  martyrs  had  only  just 
finished.  The  preparations  made  by  the  officials  were 
nothing  in  comparison  with  the  imposing  procession 

1  Hist,  de  S.  Helene,  Tours :  Cattier,  p.  325. 

2  Les  legendes  du  S.  Sepulcre,  Paris,  1 894,  p.  2. 
^  Paulinus,  ad  Sev.  31. 

*  Theoph.  Chron.  an.  317 ;  P.G.  cviii.  109. 
°  Georgius  Harmatolus,  Chro?i.;  P.G.  ex.  620. 
•*  Theophanes,  ib. 


148     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

of  ecclesiastics  and  virgins  which  JNIacarius  had 
marshalled  to  meet  the  empress  mother. 

M.  Couret  ^  has  given  a  striking  description  of  the 
meeting :  "  AVherefore  all  this  stir  in  Jerusalem,  why 
this  commotion  under  the  sombre  vaults  of  the 
bazaar,  why  do  some  look  sad,  and  why  do  the 
Christians — Greeks  and  Syrians — all  wear  a  look  of 
joy ;  what  is  there  to  frighten  the  little  colony  of 
Jews  established  outside  the  walls  in  the  dirty  Galilean 
quarter  ?  What  cause  brings  out  the  Roman  tribune, 
at  the  head  of  his  horsemen  and  of  the  Palestine 
garrison,  and  the  curator  reipublicce  preceded  by  his 
ushers,  and  wherefore  do  they  all  hasten  towards  the 
Damascus  Gate  ? "  And  why  does  the  bishop  JNIacarius, 
wearing  the  pallium  which  Constantine  had  given 
him,  and  followed  by  his  clergy  and  the  bishops  of 
the  province,  direct  his  steps  by  a  different  road 
towards  the  same  point? 

"  Hear  you  not,  in  the  direction  of  the  same 
Damascus  Gate,  where  the  Roman  road  with  its 
slippery  stones  descends  through  the  midst  of  the 
broken  vale  which  divides  Scopus  from  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  hear  you  not  the  clear  and  joyful  note  of  the 
silver  trumpets  sounding  forth  their  arrival  ?  Already 
through  the  clouds  of  dust  we  can  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  gilt  and  silver  breastplates  of  the  imperial 
guards  escorting  an  ivory  litter  hung  round  with 
purple  curtains.  Before  this  litter  even  the  tribune 
lets  fall  the  point  of  his  sword,  and  bends  his  knee, 
whilst,  on  the  other  side,  the  golden  cross  is  lowered, 
the  thuribles  belch  forth  their  fragrant  fumes,  the 
choir-boys  scatter  handfuls  of  flowers,  and  the  bishops 

^  Les  legendes  du  S.  Sepulcre,  pp.  3-5. 

2  What  is  now  the  Damascus  Gate  appears  of  old  to  have  been 
styled  the  Nablus  or  Neapolitan  Gate. 


RECOVERY  OF  THE  TRUE  CROSS  149 

with  their  deep  musical  voices  intone  the  Alleluia  of 
the  days  of  gladness. 

"  At  last  the  procession  comes  to  a  standstill,  the 
eunuchs  draw  back  the  purple  curtains  and  open  the 
door,  and  a  woman  steps  out ;  she  is  aged,  pale, 
dressed  in  mourning,  and  her  face,  which  once  had 
been  beautiful,  shows  traces  of  great  sorrow.  She 
kneels  before  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem  and  begs  his 
blessing.     This  is  the  Augusta." 

After  exchanging  a  few  words,  in  spite  of  her  great 
fatigue  she  begged  Macarius  to  lead  her  to  the 
terrace  above  the  Holy  Places.  Then  the  procession 
resumed  its  way,  entered  the  city,  and  proceeded 
along  the  long,  cold,  classical  colonnade  of  the  pagan 
city  built  by  Adrian ;  soon  they  reached  the  plat- 
form. "  There,"  writes  M.  Couret,  "  stood  a  sacred 
grove  stocked  with  dark-hued  trees,  with  its  tall 
cypresses  and  umbrella-shaped  cedars,  with  pointed 
firs,  and  fragrant  acacias  covering  with  their  accursed 
shade  the  two  pagan  chapels  dedicated  to  Jupiter 
and  Venus."  ^ 

Helena  alighted  from  her  litter  at  the  sight  ^  of  the 
goddess  of  love  displaying  her  naked  charms  to  the 
eyes  of  all.  Her  only  thought  was  of  the  sacred 
treasures  buried  far  beneath.  Instinctively  she  felt 
that  she  was  called  to  play  a  high  part,  and,  as  if 
inspired,  she  spoke  the  words  of  which  Ambrose  has 
preserved  the  memory^:  "  Here  indeed  is  the  battle- 
field, but  where  are  the  trophies  of  victory  ?  I  seek 
the  Standard  of  Salvation,  and  I  find  it  not.  Shall  I 
then  reign  whilst  the  Saviour's  Cross  lies  in  the  dust  ? 
Shall  I  be  glorious  whilst  the  sign  of  Christ's  victory 

1  Op.  cit.  p.  6. 

2  Paulinus,  ep.  ad  Sev.  31. 

3  De  obitu  Theod.;  P.L.  xvi.  1400. 


150     THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

is  buried  in  the  earth  ?  .  .  .  Demon,  wherefore  didst 
thou  hide  this  wood,  save  to  be  vanquished  once 
again  ?  Yea,  thou  shalt  be  made  to  bite  the  dust, 
and  to-day  a  woman  will  bring  thy  tricks  to  naught. 
As  Mary  bore  the  Lord,  so  I  shall  discover  His  Cross. 
She  manifested  her  child  by  giving  him  to  the  world ; 
I,  for  my  part,  shall  teach  His  resurrection." 

According  to  tradition  Helena  forsook  the  sumptu- 
ous apartments  prepared  for  her,  and  went  to  shut 
herself  in  a  convent  of  nuns,  in  a  bare-walled  cell, 
whose  only  furniture  was  a  wooden  pallet,  doubtless 
somewhere  on  the  Sion  hill,  for  there  it  was  that 
monasteries  were  first  established.^  Now  that  she  had 
at  last  reached  M\my  whose  foundation  was  laid  on 
Holy  Jerusalem,  she  and  the  bishop  proceeded  to 
make  themselves  ready  for  their  mission  by  retire- 
ment, by  fasting,  and  by  ardent  prayer,-  for  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  Helena  and  Macarius  had 
pledged  themselves  to  perform  a  work  in  which  they 
could  expect  no  human  aid.  Calvary  and  the  sepulchre 
were  indeed  not  difficult  to  find,  for  their  position 
was  known  by  all,  but  where  was  the  Cross  ? 

Some  secret  presentiment  led  Macarius  to  seek  for 
it  near  the  spot  covered  by  the  temple  of  Venus  ; 
moreover,  he  felt  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  precautions 
taken  by  Annas  and  Caiphas,  the  Jews  who  had 
helped  to  bury  the  crosses  could  not  have  failed  to 
leave  behind  them  some  record  of  their  act.  Hence 
when  he  called  a  council  he  invited  to  it  not  only  all 
those  Christians  who  were  esteemed  for  their  learning 
and  sanctity,  but  also  a  few  well-known  Jews.  The 
Hebrews  being  by  nature  wily,  gladly  accepted  his 

1  Eucherius,  Epit.  de  locis  aliquibus  Sanctis,  ii, ;  Tobler,  Itinera, 
52. 

2  Theoph.  Chron.  an.  317  ;  P.G.  cviii.  109. 


RECOVERY  OF  THE  TRUE  CROSS  151 

invitation,  and  they  brought  with  them  a  rabbi 
haihng  from  the  far  East,  who  had  among  his  family 
papers  the  very  information  which  was  sought.^  Ac- 
cording to  Gregory  of  Tours  his  name  was  Jude  or 
Judas,  and  he  afterwards  became  a  convert,  receiving 
at  his  baptism  the  name  of  Quiriacus."  This  same 
Cyriacus  or  Quiriacus  soon  became  the  hero  of  a 
marvellous  legend,  of  which  more  anon.  The  faithful 
also  did  their  best  to  ensure  God's  help,  by  which  man's 
work  might  be  supplemented ;  they  sought  for  signs 
from  heaven  and  scanned  their  dreams  for  revelations. 

Then  the  real  work  was  started,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  city  lending  a  helping  hand  to  the  legionaries.^ 
Meanwhile  the  empress  stayed  near  the  works,  usually 
sitting  on  a  marble  chair,  which  was  for  long  after- 
wards shown  at  Jerusalem.*  Other  pilgrims,  however, 
consider  this  chair  as  that  of  St.  James.^  Occasionally 
the  workmen  grew  weary,  and  complained  of  the  fruit- 
lessness  of  their  efforts,  but  as  soon  as  they  saw  the 
empress  throwing  herself  on  her  knees  in  the  dust 
they  would  resume  their  labour  with  new  zesf 

Day  and  night  the  work  went  on.  The  removal 
of  a  mass  of  masonry  20  feet  deep  by  300  feet 
long  is  not  the  work  of  a  single  day.  Instead  of 
starting  from  the  east,  where  the  grotto  of  Joseph  of 

^  Sozomen,  H.E.  ii.  1. 

^  Greg.  Turon.  H.E.  Francorum,  i.  34-;  P.L.  Ixxi.  179- 

^  Paulinus,  ep.  ad  Sev.  31. 

*  Couret,  op.  cit.  p.  128,  quotes  as  his  references  for  this  state- 
ment the  Evagatormm,  Fratris  Felicis  Fabri,  i.  295,  and  Castela, 
le  sainct  Voyage  de  Hierusalem  et  mont  Sinay  faicl  en  Van  l600. 
Bourdeaux,  mdciii.  233. 

^  Ludulphus  Sudheim,  He  itinere  Terre  Satwle,  in  the  Archives  de 
I' Orient  Latin  (ii.  No.  iii.  Voyages,  353).  Paris:  Leroux,  1884.  [A 
chair  of  this  description  is  still  shown  in  the  Armenian  Church  of 
St.  James  at  Jerusalem. — Trans.^ 

®  Paulinus,  ib. 


152      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Arimathaa  lay  hid,  the  workmen,  following  either  the 
instructions  of  Judas  or  the  rev^elations  of  Helena  and 
Macarius,  sought  at  the  western  end  of  the  platform 
for  the  opening  of  the  cistern,  which  finally  they 
found.  ^ 

Only  a  few  men  could  now  work  at  once,  but  with- 
out intermission  they  laboured  at  the  task  of  extracting 
the  rubbish  and  the  stones  which  filled  the  narrow 
neck.  Lower  and  lower  went  the  diggers,  with  no 
result.  At  a  depth  of  some  twenty  feet  the  tunnel 
widened  out."  The  workmen  now  found  themselves  in 
a  spacious  cave ;  but  was  this  all  ?  Was  this  then 
the  bottom,  and  had  all  hope  been  lost  ?  Would  the 
dreams  of  Helena  and  Macarius  and  the  documents 
of  Judas  all  prove  false  ?  By  sounding  the  walls  of 
the  cave  a  passage  was  at  last  found  leading  even 
lower,  and  work  began  anew.  According  to  tradition  ^ 
the  empress  now  took  up  her  abode  in  the  first  cave, 
and  there  continued  to  pray  amidst  the  rubbish.  In 
remembrance  of  this  the  chapel  now  bears  her  name. 
At  last  the  picks  struck  on  wood,  and  soon  three 
crosses  were  brought  to  light,  and  also  a  tablet  bearing 
on  it  the  inscription  recorded  in  the  Gospels. 

From  this  point  onward  we  are  confronted  by  a 
double  tradition.  According  to  St.  Ambrose  the  true 
cross  was  distinguished  from  the  crosses  of  the  thieves 
by  its  title.  Helena  sat  herself  down  before  the  three 
crosses,  and  opened  the  Gospels.  One  of  the  crosses 
bore  a  script  nailed  to  it,  on  which  was  written :  "  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  King  of  the  Jews."  The  chief  priests 
had  said  to  Pilate:  "Write  not  'The  King  of  the 
Jews,'  but  that  he  said  '  I  am  the  King  of  the  Jews,' 

1  Paulinus,  ep.  ad  Sev. 

2  Into  what  is  now  called  St.  Helena's  Chapel. 
^  See  above,  p.  46. 


RECOVERY   OF   THE   TRUE   CROSS    153 

and  Pilate  answering  had  said, '  What  I  have  written, 
I  have  written.'"  St.  Ambrose  considers  Pilate's 
reply  as  a  real  inspiration,  for  it  means :  "I  have 
written  not  what  pleases  you,  but  what  future  ages 
will  wish  to  know.  I  wrote,  not  for  you,  but  for 
posterity ;  as  if  he  had  written  this  expressly  that 
Helena  might  read  and  recognise  the  cross  of  her 
Saviour."  ^  We  must  remember  that  Theodosius 
had  taken  Ambrose  into  his  confidence,  and  that  no 
one  was  better  placed  for  ascertaining  the  truth.^ 

St.  John  Chrysostom  gives  a  similar  version :  "  It 
was  to  come  to  pass  that  the  True  Cross  should  be 
sought  for,  that  the  three  crosses  should  be  confused, 
and  that  the  Cross  of  Christ  should  be  recognised  first 
by  its  being  in  the  centre,  and  secondly  by  its  bearing 
a  title.  "^ 

If  it  were  true,  as  some  others  of  the  Fathers  relate, 
that  Christ  alone  was  nailed  to  His  cross,  whereas 
the  thieves  were  only  tied  to  theirs,  then  the  choice 
would  have  been  easier.  The  True  Cross  would  then 
have  been  recognised  by  the  holes  made  in  it  by  the 
nails. 

The  BoUandists  and  the  majority  of  early 
chroniclers  hold  that  the  Cross  was  identified  by 
means  of  a  miracle.  According  to  Sozomen  it  was 
at  first  impossible  to  tell  which  of  the  three  crosses 
was  the  true ;  the  title  was  indeed  in  the  cavern 
with  the  crosses,  but  it  had  been  detached.  Now 
at  that  time  a  certain  high-placed  lady  of  ^Elia  was 
lying  at  death's  door.*     She  was   a  widow,  Libania 

1  Ambros.  De  obitu  Theod.  ;  P.L.  xvi.  1399  and  1402. 

2  Ambrose's  opinion  is  accepted  as  probable  by  Mgr.  Gerbet, 
Esquisse  de  Rome  chretienne,  vol.  ii.  p.  270. 

3  Horn.  85  (alias  84),  in  Joan,  i. ;  P.G.  lix.  46l. 

4  Rufinus,  H.E.  i.  7. 


154      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

by  name,  who  had  been  born  a  Jewess,  but  who  after 
the  death  of  her  husband  Isachar  had  forsaken  the 
Synagogue.^  Macarius  on  seeing  the  general  anxiety 
exclaimed  :  "  Bring  away  all  the  crosses,  and  let  God 
show  that  of  the  Saviour."  Followed  by  Helena  and 
the  crowd,  he  proceeded  to  the  house  of  the  dying 
lady,  fell  on  his  knees,  and  prayed  as  follows  : — "  O 
Lord,  who  by  the  Passion  of  Thine  only  Son  on  the 
cross,  didst  deign  to  restore  salvation  to  mankind, 
and  who  even  now  hast  inspired  thy  handmaid  Helena 
to  seek  for  the  blessed  wood  to  which  the  author  of 
our  salvation  was  nailed,  show  clearly  which  it  was, 
among  the  three  crosses,  that  was  raised  for  Thy 
glory.  Distinguish  it  from  those  which  only  served 
for  a  common  execution.  Let  this  woman  who  is 
now  expiring  return  from  death's  door  as  soon  as  she 
is  touched  by  the  wood  of  salvation."  '^ 

She  was  touched  with  one  and  then  with  another 
cross,  but  to  no  avail,  but  as  soon  as  the  third  was 
presented  she  opened  her  eyes,  and  arose,  and  feeling 
herself  even  more  alive  and  vigorous  than  when  she 
had  been  in  health,  she  began  to  run  about  the  house 
glorifying  God's  almighty  power.^ 

We  now  return  to  the  cave.  Helena,  the  true 
cross  being  now  revealed,  fell  on  her  knees,  but  felt 
drawn  between  two — hesitating  between  her  desire 
to  kiss  the  holy  relic  and  her  fear  of  committing  a 
sacrilege  in  touching  it  with  her  lips.     At  last  she 

*  Acta  SS.  18th  August.  Fita  S.  Helence,  auctore  Almanno 
Altivillarensi,  §.  27.  Molinier  and  Kohler,  Itinera  Hierosolymitana, 
47.     Geneva:  Pick,  1885. 

2  Rufinus,  H.E.  i.  8  ;  P.L.  xxi.  476. 

3  Rufinus,  ih.  This  account  agrees  with  those  of  Theodoret, 
Sozomen,  and  Theophanes.  Almannus,  on  the  other  hand,  has  it 
that  Libania's  cure  was  effected  not  at  her  house,  but  in  the  Holy 
Places,  to  which  she  had  been  carried. 


RECOVERY  OF  THE  TRUE  CROSS  155 

embraced  it,  and  the  sweetness  of  grace  entered  the 
innermost  parts  of  her  soul/ 

Soon  the  news  spread,  and  then  the  multitude 
came  flocking  together  with  joy  and  impatience. 
Held  back,  no  doubt  by  the  legionaries,  they  loudly 
clamoured  to  be  allowed  to  see  and  worship. 
Macarius  yielded,  and  as  soon  as  the  holy  Cross 
appeared  in  sight  it  was  acclaimed  with  shouts  of 
joy,  whilst  every  throat  vociferated  the  ancient  Greek 
chant  Kyrie  eleisonr  When  night  fell  Macarius  and 
Helena  had  the  Cross  carried  in  triumph  by  torchlight 
and  with  much  chanting  of  hymns  to  the  oratory  of 
the  Coenaculum.^ 

Most  saints'  lives  either  add  to,  or  substitute  for 
the  miracle  we  have  spoken  of,  the  raising  of  a  dead 
man  to  life.  Macarius  had  the  crosses  brought  to  an 
open  space.  About  the  hour  of  noon  there  came  by 
the  funeral  procession  of  a  young  man  who  had  died 
the  day  before.  The  bishop  resolved  to  put  the 
crosses  to  the  proof,  and  the  crowd  fell  back  in  amaze- 
ment on  beholding  the  corpse  returning  to  life  and 
rising  to  its  feet.  This  event,  in  this  form,  is  re- 
corded by  no  Greek  writer,  nor  by  the  Acta  Sanctorum. 
I  consider  it  apocryphal.  The  legend  probably  arose 
in  the  western  portion  of  the  empire,  and  with  the 
help  of  a  little  fancy  the  cure  became  a  resurrection. 
Paulinus  of  Nola  is  the  earliest  writer  to  testify  to  a 
transformation  of  the  miracle.*  Sulpicius  Severus 
takes   the    account    as    given    him    by   his   friend  ^ 

^  Ambrose,  De  ob.  Theod;  P.L.  xvi.  1401. 

2  Menol.  Grcec.  ;  P.G.  cxvii.  47. 

3  Toupin  {Hist,  de  S.  Helene,  p.  1 46)  gives  as  his  reference  for  this 
detail  Oratio  incerti  in  exaltatione  venerandce  et  vivificce  Crucis.  Gretser, 
de  Cruce  Christi,  v.  ii.  p,  185. 

*  Paulinus,  ep.  ad  Sev.  31  ;  P.L.  Ixi.  325^. 
5  Sulpicius,  Hist.  Sacra,  ii,  34;  P.L.  xx.  148. 


156      THE    FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

From  the  West  the  fame  of  the  new  miracle  made  its 
way  to  the  East,  where  we  find  Sozomen,  evidently 
somewhat  taken  aback  by  the  change,  writing :  "  // 
is  said  that  in  like  manner  even  a  dead  man  was 
raised." 

Rufinus,  Theodoretus,  and  Sozomen  speak  of  the 
nails  without,  however,  informing  us  when  and  where 
they  had  been  found.  St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria  speaks 
of  a  rumour  to  the  effect  that  they  were  found  in 
the  wood  itself,  into  which  the  executioners  had  again 
nailed  them.^  Socrates  distinctly  says  that  they  were 
found  in  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ;  however,  as  he  also 
states  that  the  crosses  were  found  there,  his  text  proves 
nothing.  Theophanes  is  ambiguous,  he  writes  :  "  The 
Holy  Sepulchre  and  Calvary  were  found,  and  near 
them,  towards  the  east,  three  crosses.  A  still  more 
attentive  search  resulted  in  the  nails  also  being  dis- 
covered." Gregory  of  Tours  speaks  for  a  different 
tradition,  according  to  which  they  were  found  by 
Helena,  but  after  the  finding  of  the  Cross. ^  M. 
Rohault  de  Fleury  ^  suggests  that  the  empress  may 
possibly  have  bought  them.  The  general  impression 
we  obtain  from  all  this  is  that  the  nails,  like  the 
crosses,  had  been  buried,  and  that  they  came  to  light 
about  the  same  time.  The  nails  were  not  with  the 
crosses — i.e.  in  the  cavern  ;  we  may  suppose  that  after 
the  crucifixion  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  disciples, 
and  were  deposited  in  the  second  century  in  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  which,  like  the  Coejiaculum,  had 
become  a  place  of  prayer.  Adrian's  reason  for  erect- 
ing the  temple  esplanade  above  the  sepulchre  had 
been  precisely  to  prevent  the  Christians  from  visiting 

1  Cyril,  Comment,  in  Zach.  proph. ;  P.G.  Ixxii.  271. 

2  Greg.  Tur.  de  gloria  martyrmn,  i.  6  ;  P.L.  Ixxi.  710. 
^  Mem.  169. 


RECOVERY  OF  THE  TRUE  CROSS  157 

the  tomb.  Probably  in  order  to  avoid  the  danger 
of  a  sedition  the  Romans  had  hurried  the  building 
of  this  platform  ;  this  would  account  for  the  Christians, 
taken  by  surprise,  not  having  had  time  to  withdraw 
these  relics,  which  were  thus  buried  under  the  founda- 
tions of  ^lia.  Of  course,  we  merely  throw  this  out 
as  a  suggestion. 

The  finding  of  the  Cross  was  signalised  by  great 
festivities.  Helena  invited  to  a  banquet  all  the  con- 
secrated virgins  of  the  city.  She  made  herself  the 
servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  and  with  her  imperial 
hands  she  served  them  at  table  and  poured  out  their 
drink.  ^  The  unfortunate  especially  found  reasons 
for  rejoicing,  for  great  alms  were  distributed,  and 
many  condemned  prisoners  were  released  from  their 
bonds.^ 

As  to  the  date  of  the  finding,  we  are  told  that  it 
occurred  on  the  13th  September  327,  the  anniversary 
day  of  the  consecration  of  Solomon's  Temple.^  That 
being  the  case,  we  can  only  wonder  why  the  Church 
keeps  the  feast  on  the  8th  of  May. 

One  question  yet  remains  to  be  answered.  We 
have  seen  that  chroniclers  disagree,  some  preferring 
the  human  and  others  the  miraculous  proof  Must 
we  not,  then,  choose  between  the  two  ?  The  Abbe 
Gosselin  rightly  observes  :  "  It  is  true  that  the  writers 
who  recount  in  detail  the  story  of  the  finding  of  the 
Cross  are  not  in  agreement  as  to  certain  circum- 
stances amidst  which  it  occurred.  Some  say  that 
Christ's  Cross  was  recognised  by  its  title,  others  by 

1  Rufinus,  H.E.  i.  8. 

2  Sozomen,  H.E.  ii.  2. 

3  Peregrinatio  Silvice,  p.  108  ;  Theodosius,  De  Terra  Sanda,  v. 
(Tobler,  64)  ;  Menolog.  Grcec. ;  Tixerontj  Origines  de  I'Eglisc  d'Ephese, 
p.  175  ;  Acta  SS.     May,  vol.  i.  365. 


158      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  cure  of  a  sick  woman.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  more 
common  than  to  find  even  the  most  trustworthy 
historians  giving  different  accounts  of  the  circum- 
stances which  accompany  the  same  fact."^  Without 
there  being  any  real  contradiction  in  the  testimonies, 
each  one  takes  the  fact  which  strikes  him  most,  and 
neglects  the  rest.  Truth  will  possibly  be  found  in  a 
combination  of  whatever  has  the  appearance  of  being 
true  in  the  different  series  of  accounts.  Helena's 
inspiration  and  dreams  did  not  prevent  Macarius  from 
assembling  in  council  the  notabilities  of  iElia,  nor 
from  accepting  the  information  which  Judas  was 
ready  to  impart.  So  likewise  the  fact  of  the  title 
being  still  fixed  to  the  Cross  does  not  exclude  the 
possibility  of  a  miracle  having  occurred. 

It  may  be  that  Rufinus  gives  us  the  key  to  the 
problem  when  he  writes :  "  The  title,  written  by 
Pilate  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew  letters,  was 
there,  but  it  did  not  show  clearly  enough  which  was 
the  Saviour's  gibbet."^  From  this  it  would  seem 
that  the  title  did  to  some  extent  point  to  one  of 
the  crosses  rather  than  to  the  others.  Helena  and 
JNlacarius  may  well  have  had  good  antecedent  reasons 
for  believing,  without  having  had  that  certainty  to 
which  no  merely  human  proof  can  pretend,  llufinus 
is  right ;  the  reasons,  such  as  they  had,  were  in- 
sufficient to  allow  of  their  placing  the  wood  on  the 
altar  and  demanding  that  men  should  give  it  honour. 
Helena  and  INIacarius  prayed,  and  God's  power,  by 
effecting  a  creature's  cure,  came  to  supplement  such 
proofs  as  they  already  possessed. 

^  Gosselin,  Notice  sur  la  Couronne  d'epines,  pp.  11-12. 

2  Sed  nee  ipse  satis  evidenter  Dominici  prodebat  signa  patibuli. 


CHAPTER  V 

HELENA   DIVIDES   THE   CROSS.     HER   DEATH 

We  left  Helena  with  the  True  Cross,  with  the  title, 
and  the  nails ;  what  will  she  do  with  the  relics  she 
has  sought  and  found  ? 

It  is  said  that,  being  anxious  to  visit  Pope  Sil- 
vester and  do  him  homage,  she  crossed  the  seas,  and 
hastened  to  hand  over  to  him  the  larger  portion  of 
her  find.  But  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  this 
tradition  makes  her  follow  a  strange  route.  "  At  the 
time  when  Constantine  lived,"  writes  Gregory  of 
Tours,^  "  the  Adriatic  Sea  was  so  tempestuous,  ship- 
wrecks were  so  frequent,  and  so  many  men  perished 
by  them,  that  it  acquired  the  name  of  the  sailors' 
death-trap.^  The  queen,  anxious  to  relieve  so  many 
miseries,  had  one  of  the  four  nails  of  the  cross  thrown 
into  the  sea,  hoping  that  by  God's  mercy  this  would 
be  sufficient  to  allay  the  furious  motion  of  the  waves. 
And,  in  fact,  no  sooner  had  she  done  so  than  the 
Adriatic  grew  calm,  and  ever  since  it  has  been  blest 
with  favourable  winds.  Even  to-day  seamen  venerate 
the  sea  which  was  thus  hallowed,  and  when  they 
reach  it  they  fast,  and  pray,  and  join  in  hymns." 

As  soon  as  she  reached  Rome,  Helena,  so  we  are 
told,  wishing  to  take  revenge  for  the  sacrilege  com- 
mitted by  Adrian  in  building  a  temple  of  Venus  over 

^  De  gloria  martynmi,  i.  6;  P.L.  Ixxi.  710. 

2  [For  Adriatic  we  should  probably  read  Ionian  Sea.  The  dis- 
tinction between  the  two  seas  is  not  very  marked,  and  navigators 
even  to-day  often  speak  of  the  Ionian  Sea  as  the  Adriatic. — Traits.^ 
159 


ICO     THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

Calvary,  pulled  down  an  ancient  temple  of  Venus, 
and  with  the  material  thus  obtained  built  the 
basilica  of  the  Holy- Cross-in- Jerusalem  on  the  same 
site.^  To  the  new  basilica  was  given  a  large  piece  of 
the  True  Cross,  the  title,  one  nail,  the  cross-beam  of 
the  good  thief's  cross,  and  the  finger  which  St. 
Thomas  had  placed  in  our  Saviour's  side.  To  Treves 
the  empress  presented  Christ's  seamless  coat,  a  nail, 
and  the  knife  which  had  been  used  at  the  Last 
Supper  ;  neither  did  she  forget  the  city  of  Besan^on. 

But  from  beginning  to  end  this  story  is  the  merest 
fiction.  The  tale  of  the  casting  of  a  nail  into  the 
Adriatic  to  quiet  the  sea  is  so  absurd  that  hagio- 
graphical  writers  endeavour  to  deny  it.  In  1617 
Bosio,  following  Gretser,  says  that  "  the  empress 
withdrew  the  holy  nail  from  the  sea  after  having 
immersed  it."'  M.  Gosselin  adopts  this  version,  and 
adds  ^ :  "  Helena's  deep  respect  for  so  precious  a  relic 
does  not  allow  us  to  think  for  a  moment  that  she 
deprived  herself  and  the  Church  of  such  a  treasure."* 
Yet  Gregory  of  Tours  categorically  states  that  she 
cast  the  nail  into  the  sea.  On  the  whole,  it  is  better 
to  reject  the  story  altogether. 

Moreover  Helena,  even  if  we  allow  that  she  re- 
turned to  Rome,  would  not  have  crossed  the  Adriatic.^ 
Ships  coming  from  Judea  made  for  Puteoli,  some  few 
miles  from  Naples,^  or  Ostia,  the  port  of  Rome. 
Nor,  again,  can  her  erecting  the  new  basilica  have 
been  due  to  any  desire  to  spite  her  ancient  gods,  for 

^  Baronius,  Annals,  an.  324j  no.  105. 

^  Bosius,  Crux  triumphans  et  gloriosa,  I.  xv.  101-102. 

^  Notice  sur  la  Couronne  d'cpines,  137. 

*  Cp.  R.  de  Fleury,  Man.  (170),  and  Besozzi  in  his  history  of  the 
church  of  Santa-Croce-in-Gerusalemme. 

^  [See,  however,  the  translator's  note,  p.  1.57.] 

*  The  modern  Puzzuoli.     Acts  xxviii.  13. 


HELENA   DIVIDES   THE   CROSS      161 

no  temple  of  Venus  ever  seems  to  have  existed  on 
that  site.^ 

Let  us  then  return  again  to  St.  Helena  at  Jerusalem 
in  327.  The  empress  kept  for  herself  that  portion  of 
the  wood  of  the  Cross  which  had  touched  our  Saviour's 
shoulders,'  giving  the  rest — i.e.  the  larger  portion — to 
the  church  of  Jerusalem,^  after  first  enclosing  it  in  a 
superb  reliquary.*  The  Title  got  broken  ;  Jerusalem 
retained,  apparently,  the  higher  portion,  which  seems 
to  have  been  seen  by  pilgrims  in  the  fourth  ^  and  in 
the  sixth  century.*^  The  empress  kept  all  the  nails 
for  herself,  and  either  sent,  or  carried  them  herself,  to 
Constantine.^  The  latter  had  one  of  these  mounted 
so  as  to  be  able  to  use  it  as  an  ornament,  now  for  his 
crown,  now  for  his  helmet.^  Out  of  another  nail  he 
had  a  bit  made  for  his  war-horse,'^  and  it  is  supposed 
that  out  of  some  filings  from  this  latter  nail,  mixed 
with  molten  metal,  he  made  twelve  new  relics  of  an 
inferior  class. ^° 

^  Ph.  Gerbet^  Esquisse  de  Rome  chretienne,  vol.  ii.  p.  247. 

2  R,  de  Fleury  (op.  cit.  110-111)  writes:  "In  1241  Baldwin  gave 
St.  Louis  a  large  part  of  the  Holy  Cross.  The  Cross  which  had  got 
into  the  possession  of  the  Doge  of  Venice  had  been  taken  by 
Helena's  command  from  that  part  of  the  True  Cross  which  was 
behind  our  Lord's  shoulders,  and  which  was  called  the  Cross  of 
Victories,  because  it  had  been  carried  by  the  armies  of  Constantine 
and  his  successors," 

^  Sozomen,  H.E.  ii.  1 ;  Rufinus,  H.E.  i.  8 ;  Theodoretus,  H.E. 
i.  17. 

4  Rufinus,  H.E.  i.  8  ;  P.L.  xxi.  476. 

^  Peregrinatio  Silvice,  p  96. 

^  Antoninus  M.,  Peravihiilatio  locorum  sanctorum,  §  xx.  (Tobler, 
102). 

"^  Rufinus,  H.E.  i.  8.     Socrates,  Sozomen,  and  Theodoret,  loc.  cit. 

8  Riant,  Exuviae,  ii.  270. 

^  Rufinus,  i.  8  ;  Socrates,  i.  17. 

1*^  A  nail  kept  at  a  convent  in  Florence  is  enclosed  in  a  reliquary, 
on  which  is  inscribed  :  "  Unus  ex  xii.  clavis  "  (R.  de  Fleury,  171). 
L 


162      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

St.  Helena  did  not  leave  Jerusalem  till  the  next 
year,  when  satisfactory  progress  had  been  made  with 
the  basilicas  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  and  of  Bethlehem.  When  she  did,  she  pro- 
ceeded forthwith  to  Constantine  at  Nicomedia,  and 
died  soon  after  her  arrival,  her  last  recommendation 
to  him  being  to  lead  a  Christian  life.^  Her  grand- 
children knelt  about  her  death-bed,  kissing  the  hand 
which  she  had  raised  to  bless  them."  It  is  thus  that 
events  succeed  each  other  in  Eusebius's  account. 
Hence  it  is  idle  to  talk  of  Helena  having  returned 
to  Rome,  a  journey  which  would  indeed,  apart  from 
its  uselessness,  have  been  one  of  great  difficulty  to  a 
woman  now  eighty  years  of  age.^ 

Constantine  had  her  body  taken  to  Byzantium, 
which  just  then  he  was  transforming  into  Constan- 
tinople. The  army  ^  acted  as  escort,  and  the  remains 
were  finally  laid  to  rest  in  the  basilica  of  the  Apostles,^ 
which  the  emperor  had  just  built,  with  vaults  to  re- 
ceive the  princes  of  his  family.^  He  himself  had  his 
tomb  prepared  in  the  same  place,  that  he  might  sleep 
his  last  sleep  near  one  that  he  had  so  dearly  loved. ^ 

This  mausoleum,  which  Eusebius  calls  the  royal 
monument,''  still  contained  in  the  thirteenth  century 
the  remains  of  both  mother  and  son.  It  was  seen  in 
1150  by  the  anonymous  author  of  the  Reliquioc  Con- 

1  Theoph.  Chro77.  ;  P.G.  cviii.  114. 
-  Eus.  dc  Fita  Const,  iii.  \6. 
^  Theoph. 

*  Eus.  de  Vita  Const,  iii.  47. 

^  The  church  of  the  Apostles  afterwards  became  the  Sultan- 
Mehemet-Fatih  Mosque.  Mordtmann,  Esquissc  lopographique  dc 
Constantinople,  Revue  dc  I' art  chrcticn,  1891,  28,  467-478. 

6  Theoph.  Chro7i.  an.  317;  P.G.  cviii.  113. 

^  In  eodem  sepulcro.     Scemundai'son  in  Riant,  Exuviae  ii.  215. 

*  Vita  Const,  ib. 


HELENA   DIVIDES    THE   CROSS      163 

stantinopolitancc  ;  Mn  1167  by  Nicholas  Soemundarson, 
abbot  of  the  Benedictine  monastery  of  Thingeyrar  in 
Iceland^;  in  1200  by  Anthony,  archbishop  of  Nov- 
gorod,=^  and  in  1203  by  Robert  of  Clari/ 

Certain  chroniclers  contend  that  in  1211  Aycard,  a 
regular  canon  of  Constantinople  and  a  Venetian  by 
birth,  obtained  by  a  trick  the  saint's  body,  and  brought 
it  to  Venice,  where  he  hid  it  in  his  monastery/  The 
Venetians  kept  two  feasts  commemorating  the  trans- 
lation of  St.  Helena's  relics — one  on  the  21st  of  May 
and  the  other  three  days  after  Pentecost.*^ 

French  and  Italian  writers  mostly  follow  a  different 
tradition  which  is  well  expounded  by  the  Abbe  Lucot.^ 
The  body  of  St.  Helena  was  carried  not  to  Constan- 
tinople, but  to  Rome.  According  to  the  Liber  Pontifi- 
calis  "  Constantine  Augustus  (in  the  reign  of  Pope 
Silvester)  built  a  basilica  in  honour  of  the  blessed 
martyrs,  Marcellinus  the  priest  and  Peter  the  exorcist, 
in  the  spot  called  '  Two  Laurels.'  Adjoining  it  he 
built  a  mausoleum,  in  which,  in  a  porphyry  sarcophagus, 
reposes  the  body  of  his  blessed  mother,  Helena 
Augusta.  The  monument  is  on  the  Via  Labicana, 
three  miles  from  Rome."^     The  altar  was  of  massive 

1  Exuviae,  ii.  212.  -  lb.  ii.  215.  ^  7/,^^^ 

*  lb.  ii.  232.     Li  estoires  de  chiaus  qui  conquisent  Constantinoble. 

°  Andreas  Dandulus^  Chronicon  Venehmi  in  the  Exuviw,  ii.  262.  If 
this  account  be  right,  St.  Helena's  body  was  transferred  to  the 
monastery  of  St.  Helena  after  the  taking  of  Constantinople  by  the 
Crusaders  in  1204. 

^  Exuvice,  ii.  294  and  302. 

''  Saiiite  Helene.  Paris:  Plon,  1896;  Toupin,  Hist,  de  S.  Hclcne, 
Tours  :  Cattier,  1888,  p.  238  sq.  In  his  Repertoire  des  sources 
historiques  du  moyen-dge,  U.  Chevalier  quotes  La  vie  et  miracles  de 
saincte  Helene  mere  de  I'empereur  Constantin  dont  le  saint  corps  repose 
a.  Veglise  d'Hautvilliers,  diocese  de  Reims,  pres  d'Ay,  Troyez,  l634,  in 
8vo;  ib.  I66O,  in  12mo;  7th  ed.  Chalons,  l687,  in  12mo. 

^  Anastasius,  Sanctus  Silvester j  44  ;  P.L.  cxxvii.  1523. 


164      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

gold,  and  before  the  tomb  stood  twenty  silver  lamps, 
weighing  each  one  twenty  lb.,  and  supported  on 
stands  of  richly  decorated  porphyry.^  But  this 
account  presents  a  difficulty.  Why  did  Constantine 
prefer  a  wayside  basilica  some  miles  from  the  city  to 
the  church  of  the  Holy-Cross-in-Jerusalem  ? 

To  return,  about  a.d.  840  Teutsige,  or  Tergisus,  a 
monk  of  the  Hautvillers  monastery,^  eluding  the 
sacristan,  managed  one  evening  to  conceal  himself 
in  the  sanctuary,  and  during  the  night  contrived  to 
make  off  with  a  reliquary  containing  the  embalmed 
corpse  of  the  empress.^  Quitting  Rome  without 
arousing  any  suspicion,  he  in  due  time  reached 
Hautvillers.  But  here  his  story  found  no  credence, 
and  Teutsige,  to  prove  to  his  brethren  that  what  he 
had  brought,  concealed  under  his  habit,  was  really  all 
that  remained  of  the  finder  of  the  Cross,  had  to  fast 
three  days  and  undergo  the  trial  by  water  {aqucc 
indicio).  Lucot  and  Toupin  believed  that  this  was 
really  a  case  of  the  trial  by  boiling  water,  and  that 
the  monk  had  to  enter  a  cauldron  bodily.  Flodoardus 
is  not  clear ;  moreover,  the  trial  by  boiling  water 
usually  consisted  in  the  accused  having  simply  to 
withdraw  a  ring  from  the  bottom  of  the  cauldron.* 
It  is  possible  too  that  the  monks  were  satisfied  with 
the  cold-water  trial,  which  was  sometimes  used  when 
the  matter  in  hand  was  not  criminal.  Whatever  the 
trial  precisely  was,  the  monks  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  quite  convinced,  for  they  despatched  two  of 
their  brethren  to  Rome  to  make  inquiries,  and  re- 

^  Anastasius,  Sanctus  Silvester,  it;  P.L.  cxxvii.  1523. 

-  Altum  Villare.  It  was  founded  in  the  seventh  century  by  St, 
Nivard,  archbishop  of  Rheims. 

3  Flodoardus,  I  list,  ecclesia;  Hetnensis,  ii.  8  ;  P.L.  cxxxv.  108. 

■^  [Not  a  very  difficult  or  dangerous  matter  if  the  performer  was 
careful  to  damp  his  hand  and  arm  beforehand. — Tratis.] 


HELENA   DIVIDES   THE   CROSS      165 

frained  from  expressing  any  opinion  until  these  two 
came  back  bringing  confirmation  of  the  news,  and  in 
addition  the  body  of  St.  Polycarp.^ 

The  worship  of  St.  Helena  flourished  at  Hautvillers 
until  the  Revolution.  In  1791  Dom  Grossard  hid 
these  pretended  relics  at  Rheims  and  at  Epernay,  and 
before  his  arrest  saw  that  they  were  made  over  to 
the  parish  priest  of  CefFonds.  After  many  adven- 
tures, Avhich  it  would  take  too  long  to  recount,  they 
came  into  the  possession  of  the  church  of  St.  Leu 
in  Paris,  where  in  1871  they  were  saved  from  injury 
by  the  unexpected  intervention  of  a  federate  sergeant. 

At  some  unknown  date,  whatever  remained  in  Rome 
of  the  supposed  body  of  the  saint  was  divided  among 
several  churches.  In  the  left  transept  of  S.  Maria-in- 
Ara-Coeli,  under  the  altar  dedicated  to  St.  Helena, 
there  is  an  urn  which  is  said  to  contain  the  relics 
of  St.  Helena  and  of  the  martyrs  Artemius,  Abundius, 
and  Abundantius.-  The  abbey  of  Der,  in  Cham- 
pagne, formerly  possessed  what  was  said  to  be  St. 
Helena's  head.^  Whence  it  came  no  one  knows,  but 
it  afterwards  passed  to  the  church  of  Montier-en-Der, 
with  a  document  of  1342  duly  witnessing  to  the 
translation.*  Lastly,  writes  M.  Lucot,^  "  there  is 
still  shown  at  Rome,  so  M.  de  Rossi  informs  me, 
the  remains  of  the  round  mausoleum,  and  in  the 
Vatican  museum  may  still  be  seen  the  huge  sarco- 
phagus of  richly  sculptured  porphyry  in  which  Con- 

^  Lucot  and  Toupin  state  that  the  trial  by  water  took  place  by 
command  of  Charles  the  Bald,  and  was  presided  over  by  Hincmar  of 
Rheims  ;  but  they  give  no  references. 

2  Lucot,  p.  36.  3 11^  p.  37. 

^  See  this  document  in  Lucot,  p.  13.  There  was  formerly  at 
Corbeil  a  finger  of  St.  Helena's  which  had  been  presented  by 
Robert  of  Clari  after  the  sack  of  Constantinople  in  1204.  Exuvice, 
ii.  199.  ^Ib.  p.  34. 


166      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

stantine  had  laid  his  mother.  Bottari  and  Aringhi 
have  described  this  sarcophagus  in  their  works.^  So 
far  as  I  know,  the  monument  shows  no  trace  of 
Christianity.  On  the  cover  naked  children  disport 
themselves  among  garlands  of  leaves ;  on  the  sides 
are  depicted  scenes  from  military  life."  ^ 

The  reader  has  now  before  him  all  the  details  of 
the  problem.  Unfortunately,  they  are  all  contra- 
dictory. What  became  of  the  remains  of  that 
woman  so  humble  in  her  birth  and  yet  so  great  in 
her  mission  ?  Shall  we  seek  them  at  Rome,  or  at 
Constantinople,  or  at  Venice,  or  in  Paris?  Personally, 
we  incline  to  favour  Constantinople. 

St.  Helena  had  much  property  in  different  parts  of 
the  empire ;  this  she  divided  among  her  heirs  by  a 
will  made  shortly  before  her  death.^  No  doubt  she 
directed  Constantine,  as  her  executor,  to  see  that 
Rome,  Treves,  and  Besan^on  each  received  some 
portion  of  the  relics  of  the  Passion.  We  shall  treat  in 
succession  of  these  three  cities. 

1  Bottari,  Roma  Sotterranea,  iii.  pi.  196  ;  Aringhi,  Roma  Subterranea, 
ii.  p.  22. 

2  Toupin  (p.  239)  gives  some  interesting  details  about  this 
sarcophagus. 

^  Eus.  Fita  Const,  iii.  46. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  SUBSEQUENT  HISTORY  OF  THE 
INSTRUMENTS  OF  THE  PASSION 

1.  Rome's  portion 

the  relics  preserved  at  santa-croce-in- 
gerusalemme 

The  first  of  Helena's  wishes  which  Constantine  im- 
mediately set  about  fulfilling  was  the  erection  of  the 
basilica  of  Santa-Croce-in-Gerusalemme  at  Rome. 
This  was  to  serve  as  the  resting-place  for  a  piece 
of  the  True  Cross.  The  basilica  consists  of  an  upper 
church  and  of  a  crypt  named  after  St.  Helena.  An 
inscription,  near  the  passage  leading  down  to  the 
crypt,  gives  us  the  tradition,  which,  however,  stands 
in  need  of  some  rectification.^ 

It  tells  us  how  the  basilica  was  built  by  Helena 
after  her  return  from  Jerusalem ;  the  foundations 
were  laid  in  earth  brought,  by  way  of  the  sea,  from 
Calvary,  in  order  that  the  new  church  might  be  called 
the  New  Jerusalem.^  It  was  consecrated  by  Pope 
Silvester  I.  in  the  calends  of  April,  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  his  pontificate — i.e.  in  327  or  328.  Whoever 
composed  this  inscription  preserves  a  discreet  silence 
on  doubtful  points ;  it  will  be  observed  that  he  has 
nothing  to  say  of  Helena's  return  to  Rome,  nor  of 

1  The  text  of  the  inscription  is  given  by  Nicquet,  Titulus  Sanclcv 
Crucis,  Antwerpiae,  l670,  p.  152,  and  by  Fleury,  Mem.  p.  367. 

2  [This  furnishes  an  explanation  why  this  Roman  church  should 
be  called  the  church  of  the  "  Holy-Cvoss-in-Jenisalem." — 7'rans.^ 

167 


168     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  relics  which  she  is  supposed  to  have  given  to  the 
new  sanctuary. 

Anastasius,  a  ninth  -  century  Vatican  Hbrarian,^ 
enters  more  into  the  details,  and  in  his  Life  of  Pope 
Silvester  I.  he  informs  us  that  the  monument  was 
built  by  Constantine.  "  At  this  same  time,"  he 
writes,  "  Constantine  Augustus  built  a  basilica  in 
his  mother's  palace,  in  which  he  placed  even  the 
wood  of  the  Holy  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
enclosed  in  a  golden  casket  adorned  with  stones.  He 
it  was  who  gave  its  name  to  this  church,  called  even 
to-day  '  Jerusalem '."  - 

This  writer  gives  a  grand  account  of  the  munificent 
donations  made  by  the  sovereign.  There  was  the 
massive  golden  altar  weighing  250  lb. ;  four  candle- 
sticks (to  denote  the  four  Evangelists)  in  gold  and 
silver,  each  weighing  30  lb.,  and  designed  to  burn 
before  the  Holy  Wood ;  fifty  silver  lamps  of  15  lb. 
each ;  a  cup  of  pure  gold  weighing  10  lb. ;  five 
chalices  for  use  at  the  Mass,  all  of  them  in  gold, 
weighing  each  1  lb.  ;  three  silver  cups  each  of 
8  lb. ;  ten  silver  chalices  of  2  lb.  each ;  a  golden 
paten  of  |10  lb. ;  a  silver  one,  edged  with  gold 
and  adorned  with  stones,  of  50  lb.,  and  silver  cruets 
of  20  lb.  Much  landed  property  was  also  pre- 
sented to  the  sanctuary  to  defray  the  costs  of 
worship.^ 

This  great  treasure,  which  Cacioni  values  at  143,000 
pieces  of  gold,*  must  have  contained  many  articles 
which  were  merely  ornamental.  We  cannot  well 
fancy  a  priest  handling  a  paten  four  stone  in  weight, 

'  He  attended  the  Council  of  Constantinople  in  869. 

2  Anastasius,  Sanctus  Silvester ;  P.L.  cxxvii,  1521. 

2  Et  omnia  agrorum  circa  palatium  ecclesia^  dono  dedit.     Ibid. 

*  Gerbet,  Esquisse  dc  Rome  chrclienne,  vol.  ii.  p.  276". 


ROME'S   PORTION  169 

or  altar-boys  presenting  him  with  cruets  which  would 
turn  the  scale  at  twenty  Ib.^ 

Anastasius  drew  his  information  from  the  pontifical 
archives,  which  were  then  still  intact,  and  his  in- 
formation is  correct.  That  Constantine  in  doing 
what  he  did  was  acting  as  his  mother's  executor 
is  seen  by  the  fact  that  he  erected  the  building  on 
property  which  had  belonged  to  her  near  the  Lateran 
palace,  and  on  the  spot  formerly  covered  by  the 
gardens  of  Heliogabalus.'^  Hence  it  is  that  "  Jeru- 
salem" was  called  Helena's  basilica  in  the  Acts  of 
the  Council  held  at  Rome  in  433  under  Sixtus  1 11.^ 

In  the  beginning,  on  account  of  the  relic  of  the 
True  Cross,  this  basilica  ranked  as  one  of  the  first 
among  the  churches  of  Rome.  This  has  been  proved 
by  Gerbet.*  "  In  the  Middle  Ages,"  he  writes,  "  the 
Pope  did  not  sing  the  Good  Friday  Mass  in  the 
Lateran  basilica,  though  indeed  this  was  his  own 
church  and  stood  close  to  his  palace.  On  that  day 
Mass  was  said  there  by  one  of  the  cardinals.  The 
Pope  merely  entered  that  church  to  vest.  He  then 
went  in  procession  barefooted  to  St.  Helena's  basilica, 
where  he  celebrated  the  mystery  of  the  Passion 
before  the  Cross."  ^     Hence  after  the  ninth  century 

^  Bonneau  says  of  Constantine  that  the  wealth  he  bestowed  on 
the  churches  built  by  him  is  almost  incredible  —  in  the  stead 
of  lead  or  iron  he  used  gold  and  silver^  and  paved  the  floor 
with  precious  stones  (L«  Donation  de  Co7ista?iti?i,  xx,  Lisieux, 
1879). 

2  Gerbet^  vol.  ii.  pp.  273-274. 

2  Sederunt  in  uno  conflictu  in  basilica  Heleniana  quae  dicitur 
Sessorianum  atrium.     (See  the  Acts  of  this  Council.) 

*  Op.  cit.  vol.  ii.  pp.  278-279. 

5  Discalceatus  pergit  [Papa]  cum  processione  et  omnes  cum  eo 
cantando  psalterium  usque  ad  sanctam  crucem.  (Benedictus  can. 
S.  Petri,  in  Marten,  iii.  de  Antiq.  eccles.  ritibiis,  lib.  iv.  xxiii.)  See 
also  Mabillon,  Mus.  Italic.  1 1 . 


170     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  church  came  to  be  called  that  of  the  Hohj-Cross- 
in-Jerusalevi. 

The  relic  still  exists,  and  R.  de  Fleury  describes 
it  with  his  usual  exactitude.^  "  I  had  been  led  to 
suppose  that  the  relic  of  the  Holy  Cross  kept  at 
the   basilica  .  .  .  was  very  large.     To  my  surprise, 

I  found  only  three  bits  of  about  the  size  of  my  finger. 
.  .  .  The  reliquary  formerly  contained  four  pieces  ;  this 
is  seen  by  the  empty  space.  At  some  far-off  period 
a  Pope  desirous  of  repairing  the  losses  in  the  relic 
at  St.  Peter's,  most  of  which  had  been  given  away  by 
his  predecessors,  abstracted  one  of  the  pieces  from 
the  reliquary  at  Santa  Croce.  Of  the  three  remain- 
ing, the  longest,  that  which  forms  the  upright  of  the 
little  cross,  is  160  mm.  in  length,  and  varies  from  6  to 

II  mm.  in  thickness;  the  next  has  a  length  of  120 
and  a  thickness  of  9  mm.  ;  the  third  a  length  of  90 
and  a  thickness  of  9  mm.  On  this  last  one  it  is  easy 
to  make  out  the  vein  of  the  wood,  which  evidently 
belongs  to  the  coniferce ;  the  colour  is  the  same  as 
that  of  the  wood  commonly  used  in  pencils ;  the 
broad  and  narrow  veins  alternate ;  all  three  are 
irregular  in  shape,  and  their  total  volume  is  35*320  c." 
Yet  this  it  is  which  in  ancient  works  is  described 
as  The  Cross.  When  relics  are  in  question  we  must 
allow  for  all  kinds  of  exaggerations.  But  at  any  rate 
the  very  tinyness  of  the  royal  gift  to  the  head  of 
the  Church  shows  how  greatly  the  Wood  of  the 
Cross  was  esteemed. 

(1)   The  Title  of  the  Cross 

Had  the  Title  been  left  to  Rome  by  St.  Helena, 
it  would  certainly  have  been  mentioned  by  Anastasius 

1  Mt'vi.  80. 


ROME'S   PORTION  171 

when  he  speaks  of  the  Holy  Cross  ;  and  Constantine, 
who  was  so  prodigal  with  precious  metals,  would 
certainly  have  made  for  it  a  gold  or  silver  case,  the 
more  so  because  by  its  very  nature  the  Title  was 
something  absolutely  unique,  and  as  such  merited 
special  veneration.  Who  then  presented  it  ?  An 
unknown  person  ?  This  is  hardly  likely,  for  the 
Eastern  emperors  were  too  jealous  of  their  treasure 
to  part  with  it  without  good  reasons. 

The  history  of  the  Title  from  327  to  the  reign  of 
Valentinian  1 1 1,  is  an  utter  blank.  Hence  it  is  the  Title 
itself  we  must  examine  for  proof  of  its  authenticity. 

In  every  age  capital  punishment  has  been  sur- 
rounded by  a  certain  glamour,  in  order  that  the  public 
may  be  made  aware  of  the  nature  of  the  crime 
punished.  According  to  Roman  custom  the  name 
and  misdeeds  of  the  criminal  were  inscribed  on  a 
title  ( Tabula,  Isabella,  Titulus,  Litteixie)}  This  title 
was  carried  before  the  condemned  on  his  way  to  the 
place  of  execution,^  and  then  hung  above  his  head 
if  he  was  crucified,  or  else  placed  near  him  if  he 
perished  by  some  other  death. ^ 

The  title  was  prepared  by  painting  white  a  piece 
of  board,  which  in  this  state  was  termed  an  album. 
*'  This  word,  which  in  general  means  anything  white 
or  whitened,  was  especially  used  to  signify  tablets, 
notice-boards,  and  the  whitewashed  wall  spaces  on 
which  it  was  customary  to  write  in  red  or  black  letters  * 
all    sorts   of    advertisements    and    public    notices."^ 

^  Justus  Lipsius,  De  Cruce,  p.  101. 

2  Suetonius^  Caligula,  c.  32  ;  Eus.  H.E.  V.  i.  19. 

2  Suetonius,    In  Domitian.  c.  10. 

^  Quintilian,  Inst.  or.  xii.  3  ;  Ovid,  Fast,  i.-ii.  ;  Martial,  xi.  5,  5  ; 
xii.  26,  5. 

s  Daremberg  and  Saglio,  Diet,  ties  antiquites  grecques  et  romaines 
(art.  Album). 


172      THE   FINDING   OF   THE  CROSS 

In  the  course  of  time  the  word  album  came  to  mean 
an  official  deed  or  document.  Among  the  best  known 
pubhc  records  are  the  Albitm  pontijids,  a  Hst  of  great 
events,  and  the  Albuvi  pi^cctoris,  or  edict  annually 
placarded  in  the  Forum  by  the  prastor. 

As  Christ  was  executed  according  to  Roman  law, 
He  too  must  have  had  His  title  inscribed  in  red  or 
black  characters  on  a  white  background.  We  are 
told  that  Pilate  chose  the  text,  which,  however,  is  not 
given  in  quite  the  same  words  in  the  four  Gospels. 
St.  John  has  "  Pilate  wrote  a  title  also,  and  he  put 
it  on  the  cross."  ^  As,  according  to  St.  John,  Pilate 
certainly  did  not  attend  in  person  the  crucifixion,  nor 
fix  the  inscription  to  the  Cross,  we  must  understand 
the  Evangelist  as  meaning  that  both  the  fixing  and 
the  writing  of  the  Title  was  deputed  by  Pilate  to  his 
satellites."  The  wording  of  the  tablet  is  given  as 
follows  : — 

By  Matthew :  "  This  is  Jesus,  the  King  of  the 
Jews."  ^  By  Mark  :  "  The  King  of  the  Jews."  '  By 
Luke  :  "  This  is  the  King  of  the  Jews."^  By  John  : 
"  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  King  of  the  Jews."  ^ 

The  variants  are  slight,  and  we  may  explain  them 
by  recollecting  that  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  were 
not  present  at  the  Passion,  nor  did  they  ever  see  the 
Title,  which  disappeared  with  the  Cross  on  the  night 
after  the  crucifixion.  They  merely  aimed  at  giving 
what  they  had  gathered  had  been  the  principal  accusa- 
tion brought  against  Christ.     Thus  Matthew  writes : 

1  .In.  xix.  19. 

2  [It  is,  however,  right  to  point  out  that,  given  a  theory,  before 
mentioned  (p.  75) — viz.  that  the  "  cross  "  consisted  merely  of  the 
cross-beam  —  Pilate  may  well  have  done  in  person  what  John 
describes  as  having  been  done  by  him. — Trans.^ 

3  Mt.  xxvii.  37.  *  Mk.  xv.  26. 
6  Lk.  xxiii.  38.  c  Jn.  xix.  19, 


ROME'S   PORTION  173 

"  They  put  over  his  head  his  cause  "  ;  Mark  :  "  The 
inscription  of  his  cause  was  written  over " ;  John 
alone,  who  had  not  left  his  Master's  side,  could  write 
with  any  accurate  knowledge. 

From  Luke  we  learn  that  the  superscription  was 
written  "  in  Greek,  in  Latin,  and  in  Hebrew  "  ;  ^  from 
John  that  it  was  written  "  in  Hebrew,  in  Greek,  and 
in  Latin."  "^  Here  again,  as  we  shall  see,  the  order 
given  by  the  latter  is  correct.^  Such  was  the  Title 
buried  in  the  cavern  below  St.  Helena's  chapel.  Does 
it  agree  with  that  found  in  327  ? 

There  are  only  two  ancient  writers  who  speak  on 
the  subject.  Sozomen  writes :  "  There  was  found, 
apart,  a  tablet  inscribed  with  the  words  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  King  of  the  Jews,  the  language  and  letters 
being  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin."  ^  We  almost  seem 
to  be  reading  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  Rufinus,  less 
well  informed,  makes  a  mistake  in  the  order  in  which 
he  enumerates  the  languages.  "  Near  by,"  he  writes, 
*'  was  the  title  itself,  on  which  Pilate  had  written  in 
Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew  letters."  ^ 

Hence  there  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  the 
title  found  was  identical  with  the  Title  hid  away  with 
the  Cross.  But  is  this  Title  the  same  as  the  one  now 
kept  at  Santa  Croce  ?  The  latter  is  thus  described 
by  R.  de  Fleury  "^ :  "  The  fragment  of  the  Title,  which 

1  Lk.  xxiii.  38.  2  jn.  xix.  20. 

3  It  must  be  here  pointed  out  that  the  Vulgate  [of  which,  of 
course,  the  Rheims  version  is  a  translation]  differs  from  the  Greek 
text  in  Lk.  xxiii.  38.  The  Greek  makes  no  mention  of  the  languages 
in  which  the  title  was  written,  it  runs :  rjv  81  Kal  eTrtypac^i)  iir'  avno' 
6  (Saa-tXevs  twv  'lov8aio}v  ovtos.  Hence  verse  38  should  be  read  : 
''There  was  written  over  him.  This  is  the  King  of  the  Jews  "  The 
Vulgate,  however,  renders  correctly  the  parallel  text  in  St,  John. 

4  Sozomen,  H.E.  ii.  1.  °  Rufinus,  H.E.  i.  7. 
^  Mem.  186. 


174      THE   FINDING    OF   THE   CROSS 

is  kept  under  glass,  in  a  rather  mean  silver  case,  is  a 
little  board  235  mm.  in  width  by  130  mm.  in  height; 
it  is  all  worm-eaten,  and  looks  as  if  it  were  crumbling 
away.  On  it  the  remains  of  two  inscriptions,  one 
Greek  and  the  other  Latin,  may  be  quite  clearly 
made  out,  and  above  them  we  can  see  the  lower  ends 
of  what  appears  to  have  been  the  topmost  inscription. 
The  second  inscription  reads  NAZAPENHC,  the 
third  NAZARINVS  RE.^  The  letters  are  slightly 
indented,  as  if  they  had  been  inscribed  with  a  kind  of 
chisel,  such  as  carpenters  use  even  now;'"  each  letter 
measures  from  28  to  30  mm.  in  height.  ...  If  they 
were  painted  red  on  a  white  background — I  could, 
however,  see  no  trace  of  this — they  would  have  been 
readily  seen  when  on  the  Cross.  The  words  are 
written  from  right  to  left,  following  doubtless  the 
direction  of  the  Hebrew  inscription,  and  the  letters 
are  turned  the  wrong  way  round,  as  if  they  were  seen 
in  a  looking-glass." 

Some  points  lacking  in  this  description  must  be 
filled  in  by  reference  to  older  writers.  In  the  first 
instance,  on  what  kind  of  wood  is  the  Title  engraved  ? 
It  would  be  diverting  but  utterly  useless  to  follow 
ancient  authors  in  their  disquisitions  as  to  whether 
the  title  was  written  on  parchment,  or  on  oak,  or 
sycamore,  or  poplar  wood.^  St.  Augustine  opines 
that   both   the   Cross   and   the  Title   were  made  of 

^  Bosio  and  Gosselin  give  it  as  NAZARENVS.  R.  de  Fleury 
was  the  first  to  rectify  this  error. 

2  This  proves  that,  as  we  said  before,  Pilate  himself  did  not  write 
the  title,  but  had  it  inscribed,  probably  by  some  Jewish  workman 
of  the  city.  [The  direction  of  the  writing,  and  the  fact  of  the  letters 
being  indented,  would  almost  suggest  that  the  title  had  been  made 
to  serve  as  a  mould  for  striking  facsimiles. — Trn7is.] 

3  Nicquet,  op.  cit.  i.  3  ;  Qua:  materia  Tituli,  sen  ex  quo  ligno  fuerit, 
Antw.  1670,  p.  32. 


ROME'S   PORTION  175 

sycamore  wood,^  because  it  was  up  a  sycamore  that 
Zacchaeus  climbed  to  see  Christ  pass. 

Again,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Hebrew  text  is  wanting, 
though  a  few  strokes  remain.  These  were  submitted, 
in  1838  or  1839,  by  Cardinal  Caparelli  to  B.  Drach, 
the  Propaganda  librarian,  who  had  been  a  rabbi  before 
his  conversion  to  Catholicism.  This  expert  replied 
by  a  letter  which  was  afterwards  published."  Therein 
he  states  that  "  the  inscription  which  stands  first  has 
been  much  injured  by  time.  .  .  .  There  remains,  of 
the  letters  which  it  comprised,  only  a  few  shapeless 
strokes,  but  these  are  still  distinct  enough  to  enable 
us  to  seek  the  words  and  the  letters  of  which  the 
writer  made  use.  We  must  do  so  speedily,  for  the 
time  is  not  far  distant  when  even  these  slight  traces 
will  disappear  from  the  sacred  tablet.  .  .  . 

"  I  recognise  in  the  remnants  of  the  letters  the  writing 
commonly  in  use  in  our  nation  before  the  destruction 
of  the  second  Temple,  the  same  writing,  in  fact,  as  we 
find  on  the  Machabean  medals ;  in  other  words, 
numismatic  writing.  By  measuring  the  distance 
between  the  strokes  on  the  tablet,  I  saw  instantly 
that  the  Hebrew  title  was  written  not  in  the  classical 
but  in  the  common  language  such  as  was  spoken  at 
Jerusalem." 

After  two  months'  study  Drach  was  able  to  suggest 
a  text  in  the  Hebrew  idiom  of  the  first  century, 
rendering  the  words  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  King  of  the 
Jews,  of  which  the  lower  strokes  coincided  with  the 
strokes  still  to  be  seen  on  the  tablet.^ 

1  Sermo  clxxiv. ;  P.L.  xxxviii,  941. 

-  See  Annales  de  Philosophie  chretienne,  xviii.  1839^  pp-  291-308 
and  341-352. 

^  [For  a  reproduction  of  Drach's  reconstituted  text,  see  the 
Compte  rendu  of  the    International  Catholic   Sclent.  Congress   of 


176     THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

Other  older  visitors  tell  of  certain  details  now  no 
longer  visible.  Thus  Lselius  Petronius,  in  a  MS.  seen 
by  Bosio,  says  that  he  saw  the  Title  in  1492,  and  at 
that  time  the  red  colour  of  the  letters  was  still  dis- 
tinctly visible.^  M.  Gosselin  found  another  witness 
to  the  same.  "  An  antiquarian  who  visited  Rome 
during  the  French  Revolution,  and  who  carefully 
examined  the  relic,  assures  us  that  the  white  and  the 
red  colours  have  entirely  disappeared  from  the  Title, 
but  that  the  red  has  given  way,  as  usual,  to  a  dull 
leaden  colour."^  Lastly,  Gerbet  states  :  "  The  white 
colour,  remarked  by  Sozomen,  has  gone.  The  wood 
is  brown,  but  here  and  there  are  dark  grey  patches. 
Now  we  know  that  white  lead  takes  this  hue  when 
discoloured  by  time."^ 

To  sum  up :  the  Title  preserved  in  Santa  Croce  is 
a  rotten  piece  of  wood,  undeniably  ancient.  It  has 
all  the  qualities  of  an  album,  on  which  the  letters 
were  scooped  out  with  a  chisel  and  then  coloured  red. 
Although  it  has  been  reduced  to  a  third  of  its  original 
size,  it  still  contains  the  most  characteristic  part  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  inscriptions  described  by  St. 
John  for  the  year  33,  and  by  Sozomen  for  the  year 
327.  It  is  now  our  purpose  to  seek  out  its  history 
from  the  latter  date  downwards. 

We  hear  of  it  for  the  first  time  in  the  first  half  of 
the  fifth  century.  Placidius  Valentinian  III.,  emperor 
of  the  west  from  424  to  455,  embellished  the  sanctuary 

Fribourg,  1897,  p.  76,  plate  3,  or  Vigouroux'  Manuel  bihlique,  vol.  iii. 
1894  edition,  p.  577.     It  is  quite  fanciful. — Tratis.] 
^  Nicquet,  op.  cit.  162. 

2  Notice  sur  la  Couronne  d'cpines,  p.  45. 

3  Ollivier  (La  Passion,  p.  330,  note  3)  is  wrong  when  he  states 
that  the  ground  on  which  the  inscription  was  written  was  white- 
wash. Lime  would  not  leave  such  traces  as  these  here  spoken 
of. 


ROME'S   PORTION  177 

of  Santa  Croce,  and  adorned  it  with  mosaics  in  fulfil- 
ment of  a  vow  which  he,  together  with  his  mother 
Placidia  and  his  sister  Honoria,  had  made/  At  the 
same  time  the  clergy  had  a  cavity  made  at  the  sum- 
mit of  the  arch  in  the  middle  of  the  basilica,  near  the 
roof,  and  between  two  small  columns.  Therein  was 
deposited  the  relic  in  a  leaden  casket  two  hands  in 
length  ^  The  cavity  was  then  closed  by  a  tablet  in 
baked  clay,  on  which  was  inscribed  Titulus  Crucis, 
the  Title  of  the  Cross.  ^  According  to  tradition 
Valentinian  paid  for  this  tablet  as  well  as  for  the 
mosaics.  The  inscription  last  spoken  of  seems  to 
belong  to  the  very  end  of  the  empire.* 

What  was  the  reason  of  this  removal  of  the  relic  ? 
Was  it  for  fear  of  its  being  outraged  by  the  bar- 
barians ?  No ;  for  the  tablet  covering  the  cavity  re- 
mained well  in  sight.  Rome  had  just  before  been 
sacked  by  Alaric's  Visigoths  (24th  August  410). 
These  invaders  were  Arians,  but  as  Christians  they 
respected  the  churches.  St.  Augustine  writes :  "I 
could  mention  the  martyrs'  sepulchres  and  the 
apostles'  basilicas  which  in  that  awful  disaster  opened 
their  doors  both  to  Christians  and  to  pagans.  There 
the  fury  of  murderers  was  quenched,  thither  did  they 
also  lead  those  whom  they  desired  to  save,  that  they 
might  not  suffer  violence  from  those  [of  the  bar- 
barians] who  were   less   pitiful."^     The  title  would 

1  Inde  centum  fere  labentis  annis,  Placidius  Valentianus  III. 
Imperator  ...  in  solutionem  voti  sui,  ac  matris  Placidiae  et 
Honorise  sororis,  opera  vermiculato  earn  exornavit.  (Excerpt  from 
the  inscription.) 

2  Una  capsula  plumbea  duarum  palmarum,  Nicquet^  op.  cit.  l62. 
The  Roman  "hand"  measured  slightly  over  eight  inches. 

3  See  a  picture  of  it  in  R.  de  Fleury,  pi.  xix.  p,  I90. 
^  R.  de  Fleury,  ib.  pp.  186,  188. 

^  De  Civ.  Dei,  i.  1  ;  P.L.  xli.     We  know  from  St.  Jerome's  letters 

M 


178      THE   FINDING    OF   THE   CROSS 

have  been  perfectly  safe,  and  for  like  reasons,  in  the 
later  incursions  of  the  Vandals  under  Genseric  in  455, 
and  of  the  Suevi  under  Ricimer  in  472. 

The  real  danger  was  the  ill-advised  piety  of  the 
faithful.  The  common  people  considered  the  saints 
as  powerful  protectors,  and  they  desired,  above  all,  to 
secure  possession  of  their  relics,  which  they  looked 
on  as  a  guarantee  of  safety  and  good  luck. 

Ceste  grant  garantisson, 
as  the  biographer  of  St.  Germer  puts  it.^  Such  feelings 
as  this  account  for  the  robbery  of  the  bodies  of  SS. 
Marcellinus  and  Peter  by  the  men  of  Hilduin,  abbot 
of  Mulinheim,"  and  the  many  other  deeds  of  a  like 
kind,  such  as  happened  after  the  taking  of  Con- 
stantinople in  1204.^  It  was  not  an  unknown  thing 
for  people,  under  pretence  of  kissing  it,  to  bite  off  a 
piece  of  the  True  Cross  in  order  to  appropriate  it  for 
themselves.^ 

The  Church,  naturally  desirous  of  discouraging  such 
deeds,  from  the  fifth  century  onwards  was  accustomed 
to  secrete  the  relics  in  the  walls  of  her  sacred  edifices.^ 

Soon  another  feeling  had  to  be  guarded  against. 
St.  Gregory  the  Great,  writing  to  Constantina,  em- 
press of  Constantinople,  says :  "  In  Latin  countries, 

that  Marcella  and  her  daughter  Principia  found  safety  in  the 
basilica  of  St.  Paul,  whither  they  had  been  taken  by  some  Visigoths, 
■who  had  been  struck  by  their  appearance.  Jerome,  Ep.  cxxvii.  ad 
Principiavi ;  P.L.  xxii.  1095. 

^  Petit  de  JuUeville,  Hist,  dc  la  langiic  el  dc  la  lill.  fratigaises, 
vol,  i.  p.  11. 

2  Eginhardus,  Hisl.  Translationis  martyrum  Marcellini  et  Petri,  cap. 
iii. ;  P.L.  civ. 

2  Cf.  Riant,  E.vuviw ;  Achille  Luchaire,  Lc  Cullc  dcs  reliques 
(Revue  de  Paris,  July  1900,  p.  189). 

*  Peregrinalio  Silvia',  Rome,  18cS7,  p.  96. 

^  Paulinus  of  Nola,  Ep.  .S2  ad  Sev.;  P.L.  Ixi.  cols.  335-336; 
Poemala,  xxvi.  vers.  103  Jf'.  col.  641. 


ROME'S   PORTION  179 

and  in  fact  throughout  the  West,  it  is  considered  un- 
lucky, and  indeed  sacrilegious,  to  touch  the  bodies  of 
the  saints.  The  rash  man  who  would  dare  to  do 
such  a  thing  would  not  long  go  unpunished."^  To 
take  one  instance,  the  gifts  of  St.  Helena  to  the 
church  at  Treves  remained  for  nearly  four  centuries 
without  a  bishop  daring  to  open  the  chest  in  which 
they  lay.  In  fact,  the  result  was  that  nobody  knew 
what  it  contained.' 

These  reasons  explain  why  the  title  of  the  cross 
was  taken  from  the  altar  and  mounted  high  up  beyond 
the  reach  of  thieves.  But  though  in  this  position  it 
was  safe  from  all  attempts,  there  was  another  danger 
to  be  feared.  With  time  the  tablet  became  the  same 
colour  as  the  walls,  and  the  words  Titulus  Crucis 
being  no  longer  visible  from  the  nave  of  the  church, 
the  title  was  forgotten,  and  men's  only  thought  was 
for  those  relics  of  the  Cross  which  they  could  still  see. 
As  no  one  knew  the  whereabouts  of  the  Title,  it  was 
commonly  considered  to  have  perished. 

It  is  easy  to  explain  how  it  slipped  people's  memory. 
In  1143  Rome  was  in  revolt;  in  the  following  year 
Arnold  of  Brescia  strove  to  re-establish  the  Republic. 
In  1145  Pope  Lucius  II.  was  summoned  to  renounce 
his  rights  as  king  ;  he  refused,  and  was  expelled.  In 
1146  another  Pope,  Eugenius  III.,  was  forced  to  fly 
to  France.  After  many  troubles  the  Popes  took 
refuge  at  Avignon.  In  such  times,  when  blood  is 
shed  in  every  direction,  and  when  three  Popes  are  all 
claiming  their  right  to  the  tiara,  people  would  have 
small  thought  for  the  relics  of  the  Passion,  especially 
for  those  hermetically  sealed  and  hidden  away. 

'X'  ^  -3V-  '/?  'A* 

^  Ep.  bk.  iv.  30 ;  P.L.  Ixxvii.  702. 

2  Acta  SS.     13th  January.     De  S.  Agricio. 


180      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

On  1st  February  1492  Rome  received  the  news 
that  Ferdinand  the  CathoHc  had  taken  Granada. 
That  same  day  the  Title  unexpectedly  came  to  light. 
Gonzalez  de  Mendoza,  titular  cardinal  of  Santa  Croce, 
was  just  then  repairing  the  roof  of  his  basilica  above 
the  apex  of  the  arch  in  which  was  the  tablet  before 
spoken  of.  A  hammer  missed  its  mark,  and  striking 
the  tablet,  split  it,  the  two  pieces  falling  into  the 
cavity  behind.  The  workmen  examined  the  hiding- 
place  thus  disclosed,  and  took  out  the  two  fragments 
of  the  broken  tablet  and  the  leaden  chest  which  they 
found  within. 

Then  the  cardinal  was  apprised  of  the  find,  and  to 
his  great  astonishment  read  the  words  IHtidus  Crncis, 
and  found  on  the  reliquary  the  seal  of  Cardinal  Gerard 
Caccianemici,^  corresponding  with  the  year  1143.^ 

Of  course,  the  find  was  hailed  with  joy.  No  one 
doubted  the  identity  of  the  find  with  the  Title  in- 
scribed by  Pilate,  but  as  usual,  popular  fancy  magnify- 
ing the  event,  it  was  soon  noised  abroad  that  the 
whole  Title  had  been  discovered.  Cardinal  de 
Mendoza  ordered  the  relic  to  be  solemnly  shown  to 
the  people,  and  all  Rome  went  to  kneel  before  it. 
Innocent  A^III.^  went  to  see  it,  and  directed  that  it 
should  be  shown  under  glass  from  the  altar.* 

1  This  fact,  says  R.  de  Fleury  (p,  186,  note  1),  is  borne  out  by 
the  investigations  made  by  de  Corrieris,  Dc  Scssorianis  relujuiis, 
1829,  p.  89.  Gerbet,  who  derives  his  information  from  the  same 
source,  says :  "  A  titular  cardinal  of  this  church,  who  afterwards 
became  Pope  under  the  title  of  Lucius  II.,  had  sealed  the  casket 
and  inscribed  his  name  on  it.  The  seals  and  the  inscription  were 
recovered  with  the  relic"  {Rome  chn'ticnnc,  vol.  ii.  p.  280). 

2  This  was  our  reason  for  not  dealing  with  the  period  anterior  to 
1143. 

3  Lselius  Petronius,  quoted  by  Bosio,  Crux  tmimphaus,  L,  i.  c.  xi. 
*  Bosio,  ib. 


ROME'S   PORTION  181 

From  all  this  it  would  seem  that  the  authenticity 
of  the  Title  is  well  established.  At  first  the  property 
of  Helena,  it  was  transported  to  Constantinople  to  be 
kept  in  the  treasury  of  the  emperors  of  the  East. 
Less  than  a  century  later  we  find  a  portion  of  it  at 
Santa  Croce.  If  then  it  was  not  given  by  Con- 
stantine  himself,  it  must  have  been  the  gift  of  one  of 
his  immediate  successors.  At  any  rate  the  donor 
must  have  been  known.  And  since  the  time  of 
Valentinian  surely  no  relic  has  been  more  carefully 
preserved.  At  the  summit  of  an  arch,  it  was  in  a 
place  never  touched  save  on  the  occasion  of  repairs, 
which  are  not  often  needed  in  the  course  of  centuries. 
Nevertheless,  the  authenticity  of  the  Title  has  been 
called  into  question  on  philological  grounds. 

Some  have  pointed  to  the  direction  of  the  writing. 
The  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin  are  all  written  from 
right  to  left — i.e.  in  Semitic  fashion — and,  moreover, 
the  letters  are  all  turned  the  wrong  way  round.  This, 
it  is  argued,  betrays  the  hand  of  a  forger. 

Gretser  ^  and  Nicquet^  have  carefully  hunted  out 
Latin  and  Greek  inscriptions  written  backwards. 
In  Pausanias,  in  connection  with  the  statue  of 
Agamemnon,  they  found  a  proof  that  the  Greeks 
sometimes  wrote  from  right  to  left.  They  also  found 
coins  inscribed  in  like  fashion.  R.  de  Fleury  also 
discovered  such  inscriptions  in  the  Pisa  Campanile,  on 
certain  vases  in  the  Uffizii  museum  at  Florence,  and  in 
the  note-books  belonging  to  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and 
now  kept  at  the  library  of  the  Paris  Institut.^ 

But  it  is  needless  to  follow  these  writers  in  their 
appeal  to  such  anomalies.     The  writing  on  the  Title 

1  De  Cruce  Christi,  i.  c.  xxviii. 

2  Titulus  S.  Criicis,  L.  i.  c.  xii.  p.  86  sq. 

3  Mem.  p.  192. 


182      THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

must  be  judged  not  by  modern  standards,  but  by 
those  of  the  time  it  dates  from.  We  must  not  forget 
that  in  a.d.  33  at  Jerusalem  ordinary  writing  went 
from  right  to  left,  that  in  the  surrounding  countries 
— e.g.  in  Phoenicea  this  direction  was  likewise  a 
characteristic.  The  Greeks,  who  borrowed  their 
alphabet  from  the  Phoenicean,  began  by  writing  from 
right  to  left.^  So  true  is  this,  that  when  Fr.  Lenor- 
mant  prepared  a  table  of  the  intermediate  writing 
of  the  Greeks  to  compare  it  with  the  Phoenicean 
characters,  he  was  compelled  to  put  the  Greek  Cad- 
mean  letters  in  two  columns,  according  as  they  ap- 
peared when  written  from  left  to  right,  and  vice  versa.^ 
Then  after  some  time  the  Greeks  learnt  to  change 
the  direction.  This  is  described  by  P.  Berger.^ 
"  Quite  early  the  Greeks  modified  the  writing  they  had 
adopted  and  changed  its  direction.  This,  however,  did 
not  come  about  without  some  confusion,  of  which  we 
find  the  traces  in  the  inscriptions  of  Thera.  Here  we 
find  inscriptions  starting  from  the  right,  and  after  wind- 
ing about  over  the  monument,  returning  to  their  start- 
ing-point. Later  on  it  became  customary  to  write  on 
parallel  lines,  in  which  the  left-to-right  and  right-to- 
left  directions  alternated.  As  this  fashion  of  writing 
imitated  the  course  of  the  plough,  it  acquired  the  name 
of  Boustrophcdon.^  This  transition  form  lingered  long, 
but  at  last  made  way  for  the  uniform  left-to-right 
direction,  which  is  now  used  all  over  Europe."^ 

1  Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  Les  Manuscrits  et  la  miniature,  52. 

'  Daremberg  and  Saglio,  Diet.  cit.  (art.  Alphabetum). 

^  Hist,  de  r Ecriture  dans  I' antiquitc,  Paris:  Hachette,  1892,  p.  131. 

*  f3ovu-Tpo(l)-))86v — from  ftovs  (an  ox)  and  o-t/dc^w  (I  turn).  Pesson- 
neaux,  Diet.  gree-fran<^ais. 

5  The  law  of  Gortyna,  found  in  1 863  by  the  Abbe  Thenon,  and 
edited  by  Br^al,  is  a  good  instance  of  Boustrophedon  writing  {Revue 
archeol.  December  1878,  pp.  134-356). 


ROME'S   PORTION  183 

Now  Jesus  was  condemned  on  account  of  a  crime 
which  was  of  more  concern  to  the  Jews  than  to  the 
Romans.  Pilate's  reply  to  the  crowd  was  :  "  What 
evil  hath  he  done  ?  .  .  .  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood 
of  this  just  man,  look  ye  to  it."  ^  When  he  dictated 
the  inscription  which  should  be  placed  above  the 
Cross,  his  desire  was  that  this  inscription  should  be  read 
and  understood  by  the  Jewish  crowd,  in  which  there 
was  a  large  Greek  element,  but  nearly  all  of  whom 
knew  some  Latin.  Hence  by  his  orders  the  Title  was 
written,  for  the  various  sorts  of  Jews,  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin.  Probably  he  committed  the 
making  of  the  final  inscription  to  some  Jewish  artisan, 
and  naturally  enough  the  latter,  being  accustomed 
to  write  from  right  to  left,  reversed  the  Greek  and 
Latin  words.  A  forger  would  not  have  done  so,  but 
would  have  been  more  careful.  Such  a  solecism 
must  emanate  from  a  Hebrew ;  it  is  as  good  as  a 
trade-mark.  Hence  the  direction  of  the  inscription 
does  not  furnish  any  argument  against  its  authen- 
ticity.    But  another  objection  has  been  raised. 

The  fragment  of  the  Title  at  Santa- Croce  gives 
NAZAPEN8C  for  Nazarenus  of  Nazareth.  This 
containing,  as  it  does,  several  blunders  has  shocked 
grammarians,  but  in  reality  there  is  here  nothing 
very  remarkable.  It  proves  that  the  workman  knew 
little  of  Greek,  but  it  does  not  prove  that  it  is  the 
work  of  a  forger.  When  St.  Paul  came  back  to 
Jerusalem,  the  tribune  whom  he  wished  to  see  asked 
him  :  "  Canst  thou  speak  Greek  ?  "  ^  If  then  even  a 
Rabbi  could  be  ignorant  of  the  language,  surely  a 
fortioji  a  poor  workman. 

The  title,  or  more  correctly  the  Greek  word 
Nazarenus,  contains  three  slips.     E  has  been  placed 

1  Mt.  xxvii.  23,  24.  2  Acts  xxi.  37. 


184     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

for   H.      NAZAPEN8C   for   NAZAPHN8C.      It 

may  be  allowed  that  this  is  a  barbarism,  but  a  mis- 
take in  spelling  does  not  deprive  a  text  of  its  value. 
Moreover,  this  identical  mistake  occurs  frequently 
in  authentic  epigraphs  ;  a  fact  which  has  been  shown 
by  Nicquet.^ 

A  more  serious  slip  occurs  in  the  penultimate  letter 
of  the  word  :  instead  of  the  letters  ov  the  engraver  has 
used  the  late  abbreviation  8.  Gosselin  disposes  of 
the  objection  based  on  this  mistake  as  follows- : — "  It 
is  only  necessary  to  remark  that  we  cannot  say  exactly 
when  the  abbreviation  8  first  came  into  use.  Father 
Montfaucon  in  the  preface  to  his  Paleographie 
grecque  (No.  IX.)  instances  several  third-century 
medals  on  which  it  is  used,  and  there  is  nothing  to 
make  us  believe  that  it  was  not  used  long  before. 
The  learned  religious  had  himself  seen  such  medals 
in  the  cabinets  of  a  certain  Foucault,  who  was  well 
known  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
as  a  collector  of  antiques."  ^ 

Again,  a  slip  has  been  made  in  both  the  number 
and  case  of  the  word.  NAZAPEN8C  is  apparently 
a  Greek  accusative  plural,  and,  besides  this,  we 
may  question  whether  it  is  a  Greek  word  at  all. 
"  Of  Nazareth "  in  Greek  should  be  rendered  as 
N  AZOF  A  IOC — i.e.  as  it  is  rendered  in  the  Greek 
text  of  the  fourth  Gospel.  In  fact,  the  so-called 
Greek  word  in  the  Santa-Croce  Title  is  nothing  but 
a  Latin  word  spelt  in  Greek  characters. 

1  Til.  S.  Crucis,  L.  i.  c.  xvi.  pp.  118-119. 

-  Notice  sur  la  couronne  d'epines,  p.  48,  note. 

3  R.  de  Fleury  discovered  and  described  three  such  medals. 
Op.  cit.  pp.  93,  94.  [It  is  perhaps  necessary  to  point  out  that 
this  objection  is  far  more  serious  than  our  author  supposes.  Labour- 
saving  abbreviations  such  as  that  in  question  are  usually  invented 
by  learned  scribes,  not  by  obscure  illiterate  workmen. — Trans.^ 


ROME'S   PORTION  185 

Let  us,  however,  revert  to  the  last  scene  at  the 
governor's  hall.  When  Pilate  dictated  tlie  text  of 
the  inscription  he  spoke  in  Latin,  using  the  vi^ords 
Jesus  Nazarinus,  and  gave  orders  that  these  Latin 
words  should  be  translated  into  Hebrew  and  Greek. 
Now  the  Latin  letter  u  was  pronounced  as  ou  [oo  in 
dooni].  Accordingly  the  translator,  knowing  little 
of  Greek,  confined  himself  to  transliterating  the  name, 
but  being  aware  that  the  Greek  letter  v  is  pronounced 
as  1/  ^  he  determined  to  use  the  abbreviation  for  the 
Greek  letters  ov.  This  explanation  is  Nicquet's.  It 
follows  that  the  name  under  discussion  is  not,  as  has 
been  supposed,  in  the  accusative  plural,  but  in  the 
nominative  singular. 

It  may  also  be  pointed  out  that  the  impression  we 
derive  from  the  Gospels  is  that  the  text  was  written 
merely  in  Hebrew,  Latin,  and  Greek  letters.  St. 
John  speaks  of  the  title  as  being  written  Hebraice  ^ 
— i.e.  literally  "in  Hebrew  fashion."  St.  Luke  in  the 
Vulgate  speaks  of  the  inscription  being  in  letters 
of  Greek  and  Latin  and  Hebrew.^  It  is  true  that 
the  equivalent  of  these  words  in  italics  is  not  found 
in  most  Greek  texts  of  the  Gospel,  but  St.  Jerome's 
version  gives  us  at  least  the  Church's  tradition  on 
the  matter. 

We  will  now  bid  adieu  to  these  objections,  which 
are  already  too  hackneyed,*  and  betake  ourselves  to 

1  [For  instance,  the  Greek 'YMHN  transliterated  into  Latin  gives 
Hymen,  not  Humen  ;  similarly  with  Latin  names  rendered  into 
Greek. — Trans.^ 

2  KoX  rjv  ytypafXfx.kvov  'E^patcrTi,  'EAAr^vto-xt,  'Pa)ju.ai(rTi  (Jn.  xix.  20). 

3  Lk.  xxiii.  38. 

^  Those  wishing  to  enter  more  deeply  into  such  questions  find  all 
they  need  in  Gretser's  De  Cruce  Christi ;  Nicquet's  Titulus  S.  Cruets 
L.  i.  c.  xvi.  p.  118;  Gosselin,  Not.  sur  la  couronfie  d'epines,  p.  47, 
note  1  ;  Gerbet,  Rome  chretienne,  vol.  ii.  p.  286  ;  R.  de  Fleury,  Mem. 


186      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  consideration  of  a  graver  problem.  Was  the  Title 
entire  when  it  came  into  the  possession  of  Santa 
Croce  ?  Did  what  is  now  missing  fall  away  through 
the  effects  of  age  ?  In  other  words,  is  Santa-Croce 
alone  in  possessing  any  remains  of  the  Title  ? 

Bosio  unearthed  in  the  library  of  a  Roman  archae- 
ologist the  MS.  of  a  sort  of  diary  written  by  La?lius 
Petronius,  Paul  de  Magistris,  and  Stephen  Infessura, 
who  were  contemporaries  of  the  finding  of  the  Title. 
Here  we  read  ^ :  "  The  workmen  found  a  small  cavity 
in  which  lay  a  leaden  box  two  hands  in  length,  and 
hermetically  sealed.  Above  it  a  rectangular  marble 
slab  bore  the  words :  Here  is  the  Title  of  the  True 
Cross}  In  the  box  was  a  small  tablet  a  hand  and  a 
half  in  length,  one  side  of  which  had  been  gnawed 
by  time.  On  one  side  had  been  engraved,  and  then 
coloured  red,  these  words :  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  King 
of  the  Jews}  The  inscription  was  incomplete.  Two 
letters,  urn,  were  wanting  in  the  last  syllable  runi^ 
because,  as  I  said,  this  side  of  the  tablet  had  perished. 
The  first  line  was  in  Latin,  the  second  in  Greek,  and 
the  third  in  Hebrew  characters."* 

Petronius,  having  the  reputation  of  a  trustworthy 
witness,  has  led  many  historians  astray.  Gosselin,  for 
instance,  though  with  some  hesitation,  writes  ■ ' :  "In 
1564  the  Title  was  again  inspected,  and  was  found  to 
have  been  shortened  on  that  side  where  was  the  word 
Judeeorum.      In  1648  it  was  noticed  that  the  right- 

p.  192.  Luppi  in  an  article  in  the  AiixUiaire  cathoHque  (1845) 
sums  up  the  work  of  Buonarotti,  Boldetti,  Mabillon,  and  Montfaucon. 

1  Bosius,  Crux  triumpham,  L.  i.  c.  xi.  p.  tiO. 

2  Hie  est  titulus  vera'  Crucis. 

3  Jesus  Nazarenus,  rex  Judteorum. 

^  See  the  text  in  Bosio,  op.  cil.,  and  in  Nicquet,  op.  cit.  i. 
pp.  25,  162. 

''  Courotme  d'epines,  p.  44  sq. 


ROME'S   PORTION  187 

hand  side  too,  where  the  word  Jesus  had  been,  had 
also  disappeared,  so  that  now  nothing  remained  except 
Nazarenus  re."  Hence  it  was  inferred  that  the  Title, 
which  was  almost  intact  in  1492,  had  gradually  fallen 
to  pieces,  to  the  extent  of  retaining  only  one-third 
of  its  original  surface.  The  view  of  Gosselin  was 
generally  adopted,  and  is  now  found  in  nearly  all 
books  which  treat  of  the  subject. 

Yet  how  utterly  untrustworthy  all  this  is !  In  the 
first  instance,  with  regard  to  the  verification  of  the 
relic  in  1648.  Presumably  Gosselin  is  alluding  to 
the  copy  made  by  the  Cistercians  and  published  in 
that  year.^  But  Bosio,  as  far  back  as  1617,  had 
already  given  a  plate  showing  that  the  Title  was  then 
what  it  is  at  present.  As  to  a  verification  in  1564,  it 
would  be  vain  to  seek  for  one  outside  the  works  of 
Suarez,  bishop  of  Coimbra,  who  narrates  that  when 
returning  from  the  Council  of  Trent  with  other 
bishops,  he  was  shown  a  board  with  the  words :  Jesus 
of  Nazareth^  King} 

If  we  examine  these  testimonies  attentively,  we  see 
that  the  accounts  given  by  Petronius  and  by  Suarez 
are  inexact.  (Suarez  says  nothing  of  the  Greek  text.) 
At  this  time  the  relic  was  on  view,  for  Innocent  VIII. 
had  seen  that  it  was  put  in  a  glass  case.  The  clergy 
were  free  to  inspect  it,  and  any  "  verification  "  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word  would  have  been  meaningless. 

Petronius's  account  is  inaccurate  from  beginning 
to  end.     He  read  hie  est  Titulus  Verce  Crueis  where 

^  Imago  triumpkalis  vivificce  Cruets  .  .  .  qualis  anno  l64<8,  Romae, 
apud  Cisterciences  intra  Basilicam  S.  Crueis  -  in  -  Jerusalem  seu 
intra  Capellam  S.  Reliquiarum  conspecta  est.  Reproduced  by 
M.  Delfin  Donadiu  y  Puignau,  Compte  rendu  du  Congres  catk,  de 
Fribourg,  1897,  sciences  rel.  p.  65,  plate  1. 

^  Nicquet,  L.  i.  c.  xxv.  p.  l63. 


188     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

there  was  only  Titulus  Crucis ;  he  saw  a  marble  slab  ^ 
when  there  was  only  an  earthenware  tablet ;  he  states 
that  the  order  of  the  texts  was  as  follows : — Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew,  whereas  in  reality  it  was  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin.  Why  then  need  we  heed  him 
when  he  states  that  the  box  was  two  hands,  and  the 
Title  one  hand  and  a  half  in  length  ? 

Rohault  de  Fleury  very  rightly  investigated  the 
matter  mathematically,  and  thus  sums  up  his  investi- 
gations :  "The  words  Nazarinus  re  measure  210  mm. ; 
the  inscription  as  given  by  Petronius's  diary :  Jesiis 
Nazarenus  7^ ex  Judceoruin,  would  have  taken  at 
least  double  that  length  —  i.e.  much  more  than 
333^  mm.  Hence  Petronius  is  wrong  somewhere, 
either  in  his  measurement  or  in  his  text ;  my  impres- 
sion is  that  he  is  wrong  in  both."^  Had  Petronius's 
measurements  been  accurate,  the  original  casket  could 
never  have  contained  the  Title. 

The  Title,  as  it  now  is,  measures  235  mm.  by  130. 
The  earthenware  tablet  measures  325  mm.  by  210  ; 
we  can  thus  form  some  idea  of  the  measurements  of 
the  leaden  receptacle  which  was  in  the  cavity  closed 
by  this  tablet.  As  de  Fleury  rightly  points  out,  it  is 
evident  that  the  tablet  was  made  expressly  for  the 
Title  as  we  now  know  it.  Hence  what  was  found  in 
1492  is  just  the  Title  now  kept  at  Santa-Croce,  and 
nothing  more. 

I  should  fancy  that  Petronius,  as  soon  as  he  heard 
of  the  find,  ran  to  the  basilica  and  mingled  with  the 
crowd,  but  was  kept  at  a  distance  by  the  prelates  and 
clergy  kneeling  about  the  relic.     He  probably  saw 

1  Super  earn  erat  lapis  quidam  quadrangulus  marmoreus. 

2  A  hand  and  a  half,  the  measure  used  by  Petronius,  would  make 
exactly  333  mm. 

3  R.  de  Fleury,  Mem.  1 89. 


ROME'S   PORTION  189 

very  little,  and  obtained  most  of  his  information  from 
hearsay.  He  had  been  told  that  it  was  the  Title  of 
the  Cross.  To  make  an  entry  in  his  diary  he  probably 
opened  the  Gospels  in  the  middle,  and  copied  St.  Luke's 
account  of  the  order  of  the  languages.  It  was  perhaps 
lucky  that  he  did  not  open  it  at  the  end  of  the  Gospel 
of  St.  John.  Had  he  done  so,  and  copied  his  text 
faithfully,  we  should  probably  even  now  be  unaware 
of  the  other  mistakes  he  committed. 

Bosio  had  quoted  the  testimony  of  Petronius 
merely  as  an  archaeological  curiosity.  He  himself 
adds :  "  From  its  form  and  size  we  can  see  quite 
clearly  that  the  most  Holy  Title  had  been  broken  in 
order  that  its  fragments  might  be  distributed  over 
the  Christian  world.  It  scarcely  stands  for  more  than 
a  third  of  the  whole  Title  of  the  Holy  C?'oss.''^ 

The  Cruai  Triumpha?is  was  published  at  Antwerp 
in  1617.  The  Reformation  wars  were  scarcely  over. 
Calvin  had  maliciously  twitted  Catholics  with  their 
many  churches  which  claimed  to  possess  the  Title  of 
the  Cross.  In  fact,  this  multiplication  of  the  Title 
furnished  a  standing  joke  to  the  Genevese  Reformer. 
Some  good  Catholics,  with  more  faith  than  common- 
sense,  had  repeated  the  evasions  of  St.  Paulinus  of 
Nola  and  St.  Cyril,  and  maintained  that  the  Title  was 
animated  with  a  recuperative  power  which  could 
replace  anew  every  fragment  torn  from  it.^  Bosio 
was  better  advised,  and  simply  examined  the  Title. 
He  was  thus  able  to  state,  and  this  with  truth,  that 
Toulouse  and  the  other  places  had  not  the  Title,  but 
merely  those  pieces  of  it  which  were  not  to  be  found 
at  Santa- Croce. 

1  Crux  friiimpkans,  p.  62. 

2  Nicquet,  op.  cit.  pp.  1,  25,  l60.  [See  the  texts  in  L.  de  Combes, 
De  I'inv.  a  l' exalt,  p.  211  ff. — Trans.^ 


190     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Toulouse,  which  Calvin  had  alleged  as  a  justifica- 
tion for  his  mockery,  never  claimed  to  possess  more 
than  a  fragment  of  the  Title.  As  such  it  was  described 
in  1785  by  the  deputation  which  examined  it.^  This 
relic,  which  was  kept  in  the  church  of  the  Daurade, 
disappeared  during  the  Revolution.'^  It  used  to  be 
exposed  twice  a  year,  on  May  3rd  and  September  14th.^ 
Other  fragments  are  known  to  be  kept  at  Rome  (in 
St.  John-in-the-Lateran  and  in  St.  Mark's)  and  at 
Agnani.^  That  the  Title  was  preserved  entire  in 
several  places  is  thus  shown  to  be  merely  a  baseless 
fiction  of  the  Calvinists. 

"T^  ^  TV  w  'Tr 

At  the  fourth  International  Catholic  Scientific 
Congress,  held  at  Fribourg  (Switzerland),  between 
the  16th  and  20th  August  1897,  M.  Delfin  Donadiu 
y  Puignau,  Professor  at  the  University  of  Barcelona, 
presented  a  paper  on  The  Tr^ie  Title  of  the  Cross. ^ 
This  paper  raises  two  questions,  one  of  no  great 
moment— viz.  In  what  dialect  was  the  Hebrew  in- 
scription ivritten  ?  The  other  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance.   What  was  the  state  of  the  title  in  1492  ? 

With  regard  to  the  former  point,  the  Abbe 
Vigouroux  writes  *^ :  "  The  family  of  Semitic  languages 
comprises  Arabic,  which  was,  and  is  still,  spoken  in 
Arabia  and  in  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa  ;  Ethiopian, 
which  was  spoken  in  Ethiopia  ;  Assyrian,  the  language 
of  Assyria  and  Chaldea  ;  Aramaic,  which  was  spoken 
in  the  land  of  Aram — i.e.  Syria  ;  and  lastly  Hebrew, 

1  Gallia  Christiann,  xiii.  102. 

2  Gosselin,  op.  ctt.  pp.  52-53. 
2  R.  de  Fleury,  up.  cil.  p.  90. 
4  Ibid. 

^  Compte  rendu,  1.  p.  64  :  Fribourg:  CEuvre  Saint- Paul,  1898. 
•'  F.  Vigouroux,  Le  Xouv.    Test,  el  les  dccouvertes  modemes,  Paris, 
1890,  p.  11. 


ROME'S   PORTION  191 

the  language  of  Palestine  before  the  Captivity. 
After  the  Captivity  Hebrew  proper  became  a  dead 
language,  and  was  supplanted  by  Aramaic.''  Aramaic 
was  the  language  of  which  Drach  had  found  traces 
in  the  Title. 

M.  Donadiu  y  Puignau  prefers  to  run  counter  to 
this  generally  admitted  view,  and  maintains  that  the 
language  current  in  Judea  at  the  time  of  Christ,  and 
consequently  the  language  which  appeared  in  the 
inscription,  was  not  Aramaic  at  all,  but  a  debased 
form  of  Hebrew.  This  view  of  his  apparently  did 
not  find  adherents  at  the  Congress.^ 

With  the  second  point  we  return  to  matters  of 
greater  moment.  From  the  fifteenth  to  the  nine- 
teenth century  historians  had  for  their  only  documents 
the  fanciful  diary  of  Petronius  and  the  testimonies  of 
Bosio.  But  in  1830  Dom  de  Corrieris  published 
certain  noteworthy  original  documents  preserved  in 
the  Vatican  archives."  Gerbet  and  R.  de  Fleury 
often  quote  this  work,  but,  unfortunately,  they  do  not 
reprint  the  texts,  and  copies  of  the  Italian  scholar's 
work  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  find.  The  Spanish 
professor  has  therefore  done  us  a  good  service  in 
extracting  the  principal  passages  relating  to  the 
discovery  of  the  Title. 

The  Title  came  to  hght  on  1st  February  1492.  On 
4th  February  Leonardus  Sarzanensis,  at  the  demand 
of  Innocent  VIII.,  thus  describes  it^:  "On  the 
board,  beginning  from  the  top,  the  inscription  is 
in  three  lines,  and  in  letters  belonging  to  three 
tongues  —  Hebrew,    Greek,   and   Latin ;   they   were 

1  Compte  rendu,  p.  8. 

2  Leander  de  Corrieris,  De  Sessorianis  prcecipius  passionis  D.N.J.C. 
reliquiis  conimentarius.     Roma,  1830, 

^  Compte  rendu,  p.  74. 


192      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

engraved,  so  far  as  one  can  see,  with  an  iron  point. 
The  first  Hne  is  Hebrew,  the  second  Greek,  the  third 
Latin.  The  Hebrew  is  written  in  abbreviations 
which  mean  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  King.  The  Greek 
has  I  C  NAZAPEN8C  B  ;  but  the  word  Bmileus, 
meaning  king,  is  wanting,  save  for  the  first  letter. 
The  Latin  has  simply  IHVS  NAZARENVS  RE. 
The  word  rex  is  not  complete,  .r  being  wanting." 

There  is  here  one  slight  error,  which  we  find 
repeated  until  the  time  of  R.  de  Fleury.  The  Latin 
is  NAZARINVS,  and  not  NAZARENVS.  Apart 
from  some  minor  inaccuracies,  and  save  for  the 
name  Jesus,  the  above  description  applies  to  the  relic 
as  it  now  is.  We  can  now  gauge  Petronius's  trust- 
worthiness, who  states  that  he  read  NAZARENVS 
REX  IVDiEOR  in  an  inscription  which  is  officially 
declared  to  contain  only  NAZARENVS  RE. 

John  Brocardo,  master  of  ceremonies  in  the  ponti- 
fical chapel,  also  drew  up  (2nd  March  1492)  a  report 
of  the  visit  made  by  Innocent  VIII.  to  Santa  Croce. 
He  writes  ^ :  "  On  the  Title  there  was  written  back- 
ward, in  Jewish  style,  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin 
characters,  IS  NAZARENVS  RE."  The  remainder 
of  the  Title— z.e.  X  IVD^EORVM— was  deficient. 

The  two  prelates  disagi'ce  as  to  the  word  on  the 
right-hand  side  of  the  inscription.  Sarzanensis  reads 
IHVS,  Brocardo  IS.  We  can  easily  find  out  which 
of  the  two  reports  is  the  more  correct.  Originally 
the  word  must  have  been  lESVS.  Supposing  that 
the  end  of  the  Title  became  frayed,  there  would 
remain  ESVS,  and  not  IHVS  as  Sarzanensis  has  it. 
On  the  contrary,  had  the  end  of  the  Title  been  broken 
off,  carrying  away  with  it  the  first  three  letters  and 
part  of  the  fourth,  the  remaining  portion  of  the 
^  Cample  rendu,  p.  74. 


ROME'S   PORTION  193 

fourth  might  easily  have  been  mistaken  for  I,  and 
the  result  would  be  IS  as  it  is  read  by  Brocardo. 

What  must  we  think  of  the  testimony  of  Suarez, 
who  states  that  he  saw  in  1564  the  name  Jenus  ? 
Judging  by  the  two  witnesses  Sarzanensis  and 
Brocardo,  we  may  infer  (1)  that  the  left  side  of  the 
Title  was  in  1492  exactly  what  it  is  to-day ;  (2)  that 
the  name  Jesus  on  the  right-hand  side  was  incomplete 
in  1492,  and  that  possibly  on  this  side  the  Title  has 
since  been  eaten  away ;  (3)  that  Gosselin  is  mistaken 
in  believing  that  the  relic  was  examined  and  described 
in  1564,  and  consequently  that  his  theory  of  the 
gradual  crumbling  away  of  the  Title  is  without 
foundation. 

After  having  dealt  with  the  above  texts,  M. 
Donadiu  y  Puignau  examines  whether  the  words  of 
Sarzanensis  would  not  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the 
Hebrew  inscription  was  also  present  when  the  Title 
was  found.  "  Looking  carefully  at  this  passage,  we 
find  that  it  really  conveys  very  little.  .  .  .  Leonard 
Sarzanensis  omits  the  Hebrew  inscription,  evidently 
because  he  was  not  sure  about  it.  ..."  Leonard  in- 
deed states  that  the  top  line  is  written  in  abbreviated 
characters,  but  Drach,  a  Jew  by  birth,  on  the  con- 
trary, came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  strokes  visible 
are  not  abbreviations  at  all,  but  the  lower  extremities 
of  words  written  on  a  portion  of  the  Title  which  is  not 
to  be  found  in  Rome.  Sarzanensis,  who,  like  every 
good  Christian  in  the  fifteenth  century,  was  ignorant 
of  Hebrew,  simply  made  a  mistake. 

The  Title  preserved  at  Santa-Croce  differs  therefore 
very  little  from  what  it  was  in  1492.  Moreover,  as 
R.  de  Fleury's  measurements  show  that  the  leaden 
case  in  which  it  was  found  could  not  have  contained 
the  Title,  had  the  latter  been  much  larger  than  it  is 


194     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

at  present,  it  seems  probable  that  before  the  fifth 
century  the  greater  portion  (two-thirds)  of  the  Title 
had  been  detached  from  it.  Hence  it  would  be  no 
matter  for  surprise  did  we  find  fragments  of  the  Title 
in  other  localities. 

■TV-  ^  T?  -Jv  TV 

After  all  this  it  would  indeed  seem  that  the  relic  at 
Santa-Croce  might  be  left  to  enjoy  in  peace  its  pre- 
scriptive right  of  fifteen  centuries.  However,  the 
publication  of  the  ancient  Palestine-Pilgrims'  texts 
has  again  brought  doubts  into  the  minds  of  many. 

The  pseudo- Antoninus  Martyr  visited  Jerusalem 
about  the  year  570.    He  writes  :  "  The  Title  that  had 
been  placed  above  the  head  of  Jesus,  and  on  which  is 
written  ^Tesus  of  Nazareth^  King  of  the  Jews,  I  saw  it, 
I  held  it  in  my  hands,  and  I  kissed  it."^     Likewise 
the  so-called  Peregrinatio  Silvice,  which  deals  with  a 
period  between  385  and  388,  tells  us  that  the  authoress 
attended  the  Good  Friday  service  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Cross,  which  is  situated  to  the  south  of  the  Atrium 
against   Constantine's   basilica.      The   bishop   seated 
himself  on  his  throne,  and  before  him  was  placed  a 
table,  covered  with  a  cloth,  around  which  the  deacons 
took   their   stand.      Then    the    wondrous    silver-gilt 
reliquary  was  brought  in,  and  out  of  it  was  taken  the 
wood  of  the  Cross  and  the  Title.     One  by  one  the 
faithful  approached,  and  touched  first  with  their  fore- 
heads, then  with  their  eyes,  the  Cross  and  the  Title ^ 
and,  after  having  kissed  the  Cross,  withdrew.^ 

Dom  Cabrol,  late  of  Solesmes,  who  perhaps  attaches 
too  much  importance  to  Gamurrini's  discovery,  writes  : 
"  It  had  been  wrongly  believed  that  the  Title  had  been 

^  Anton.  M.  Perambulatio  loc.  sand,  xx,  (Tobler,  102). 
2  Hilarii,    Tractatus    de  .  .  .  S.    Silvice    Aquitancc  peregrinat.    ed. 
Gamurrini,  Rome,  1887,  pp.  95-dQ. 


ROME'S   PORTION  195 

brought  to  Rome  by  St.  Helena,  and  that  it  was  pre- 
served there.  This  passage  from  Silvia  proves  the 
contrary."^  Must  we  then  follow  Dom  Cabrol  and 
consign  the  Roman  Title  to  the  regions  of  fiction  ? 
Not  necessarily. 

The  faithful  often  betray  their  misdirected  piety  by 
their  exaggeration.  They  constantly  speak  of  partial 
relics  as  if  they  were  entire.  It  was  this  that  gave 
Calvin  an  excuse  for  attacking  them.  Even  those 
who,  like  R.  de  Fleury,  state  explicitly  that  the 
church  of  Santa-Croce  never  possessed  more  than 
one-third  of  the  Title  of  the  Cross,  still  write  at  the 
head  of  their  works  The  Title  of  the  Cross.  Now 
what  was  in  this  respect  Silvia's  attitude  of  mind,  and 
what  was  the  language  which  she  commonly  used  ? 
Was  she  too,  given  to  exaggeration  ?  We  can  easily 
judge.  One  thing  we  know  for  certain :  even  if  the 
whole  story  of  Helena  is  a  legend,  it  is  none  the  less 
certain  that  the  wood  of  the  Cross  was  portioned  out, 
that  Constantinople  possessed  half  of  it,  and  that  at 
Jerusalem  only  a  fragment  remained.  Now  Silvia, 
speaking  of  this  fragment  of  the  Cross,  terms  it  "  The 
Cross,"  as  if  it  had  been  the  Cross  whole  and  entire.^ 
If  then  "  The  Cross  "  has  in  her  language  a  merely 
relative  meaning,  why  may  this  not  be  the  case  also 
with  "  The  Title  "  ? 

It  is  natural  to  surmise  that  the  Cross  and  the  Title 
were  both  treated  in  the  same  way,  that  St.  Helena 
spared  of  both  a  portion  for  the  church  of  Jerusalem. 
Possibly  it  was  not  even  necessary  to  break  the  Title, 
for  it  seems  hardly  likely  that  so  frail  a  board  could 

^  Etude  sur  la  Peregritiatio  Silvias,  Paris:  Oudin,  1895  p,  105, 
note  1. 

2  Peregrinatio,  pp.  78-86,  90,  92-97,  99,  100,  103.  She  invariably 
makes  use  of  the  expressions  ad  crucem,  post  crucem,  ante  crucem. 


196      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

have  resisted  without  injury  the  weight  of  the  ac- 
cumulated rubbish  which  had  been  heaped  on  it  in 
the  cavern.  Probably  the  pressure  and  the  damp 
had  split  it  into  several  portions. 

Nor  does  the  text  of  Antoninus  affect  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  fragment  of  the  Title  at  Santa-Croce. 
The  Title  had  originally  borne  a  trilingual  inscription. 
On  this  point  the  united  testimony  of  the  fourth 
Gospel,  Rufinus,  and  Sozomen  has  been  confirmed  by 
a  recently  recovered  text  of  Priscillian's.^  Antoninus 
held  in  his  hand  a  piece  of  board,  on  which  was  a 
single  sentence  written  in  an  idiom  which  he  does 
not  describe."  Had  the  Title  he  saw  contained  a 
threefold  inscription  in  three  different  languages,  we 
should  expect  an  allusion  to  this  fact,  but  this  we  do 
not  find  in  Antoninus. 

Bosio  has  shown  us  the  right  way  out  of  the 
difficulty.  The  fragments  found  here  and  there  are 
bits  of  the  Santa-Croce  Title. ^  At  least,  owing  to 
the  relative  meaning  of  the  word  "  the  Title,"  there 
is  no  ground  for  contradicting  this  statement.  In 
the  portion  of  the  Title  kept  at  Rome  the  only  com- 
plete word  is  Nazarinus  in  Latin  and  Greek.  The 
Hebrew  inscription  is  not  there,  and  we  may  well 
suppose  that  it  was  this  Hebrew  inscription  that 
was  seen  by  Antoninus ;  the  fragments  kept  at 
Toulouse    and   Agnani    may    also    be    the    missing 

1  Cabrol  (op.  cit.  p.  105,  note  1)  as  his  reference  gives  Schepss, 
p.  26. 

-  [Since  the  idiom  of  the  text  seen  by  Antoninus  is  not  described, 
it  is  natural  to  believe  that  it  was  in  Latin.  If  his  description  of 
the  words  be  correct,  and  supposing  the  Santa-Croce  and  the 
Jerusalem  fragments  to  be  different  portions  of  the  same  tablet, 
then  the  Jerusalem  fragment  could  have  contained  only  the  Hebrew 
inscription. — 7V«hj.] 

3  F.  Martin,  Arc/ieologie  de  la  Passion,  p.  332  sq. 


ROME'S    PORTION  197 

portions  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  Santa -Croce 
Title. 

After  the  time  of  Antoninus  we  hear  no  more  of 
the  Jerusalem  relic.  Durand  de  Mende,  who  died 
in  1296,  speaks  of  a  parchment  {chart  a  script  a)  on 
which  Pilate  had  written  the  cause  of  Christ's  con- 
demnation, and  states  that  he  saw  it  in  the  chapel 
of  the  illustrious  king  of  the  Franks.^  Riant  attaches 
little  importance  to  this  isolated  testimony.^  Had 
the  Title  been  given  by  Baldwin  to  St.  Louis  it  would 
certainly  have  been  mentioned  in  the  chart  then 
drawn  up,  or  had  it  been  already  in  I^ouis's  possession 
we  should  have  otherwise  heard  of  it.  The  Title  un- 
earthed in  327  was  made  of  wood,  for  according  to 
Sozomen  it  was  painted  white.  Evidently  the  docu- 
ment seen  by  Durand  was  simply  one  of  those 
forgeries,  once  so  frequent,  similar  to  Christ's  letter 
to  Abgar,  or  that  other  letter,  purporting  to  have 
been  written  by  our  Savour,  instructing  the  faithful 
to  be  diligent  in  paying  tithes.^ 

When  people  have  got  over  the  first  excitement 
caused  by  the  discovery  of  the  Peregyinatio  Silvice 
and  begin  again  to  weigh  calmly  and  impartially  the 
various  testimonies,  it  will  again  become  apparent 
that  the  fragment  of  the  Title  kept  at  Santa- Croce 
has  little  to  fear  from  criticism. 

(2)  The  Holy  Nail 
As  compared  with  the  relic  previously  spoken  of, 

^  Rationale  divinorum  officiorum,  L.  vi.  c.  Ixxx.  in  the  Exuv.  Constant. 
ii.  250,  no,  25. 

-  Exuvia;,  I.  ccxiii. 

^  Revue  ecclesiastique  de  Metz,  Jan.  1901,  p.  10.  [Christ's  letter  to 
Abgar  may  be  found  in  G.  Phillip's  Doctrine  of  Addai  the  Apostle 
in  original  Syriac  with  trans,  and  notes.     London  :  Triibner,  1876.J 


198      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

the  Nail  kept  at  Santa-Croce-in-Gerusalemme  is  from 
a  critical  point  of  view  in  a  much  more  unsatisfactory 
position.  It  is  pointless,  and  one-third  of  its  length  is 
wanting.  It  measures  now  a  little  over  four  inches 
— 120  mm.  —  and  weighs  63  gm.^  Twenty-nine 
localities  possess  altogether  thirty-two  nails  or  frag- 
ments of  nails,^  though  at  the  most  only  four  nails 
were  used  in  the  Passion.  These  nails  are  diversely 
venerated,  for  while  some  of  them  may  have  pierced 
Christ's  members,  the  others  are  merely  facsimiles 
containing  at  the  most  a  few  filings  from  one  of  the 
original  nails.  Hence  we  must  be  very  careful  to 
discriminate  between  the  original  instruments  used 
at  the  execution  and  those  which  are  nothing  more 
than  diluted  replicas  of  the  originals. 

The  Santa-Croce  Nail  was  long  considered  as 
having  once  been  in  contact  with  the  sacred  body 
of  the  Crucified.  We  know  this  by  the  evident 
traces  it  bears  of  having  been  over  and  over  again 
filed,  to  the  end  that  new  tertiary  relics  might  be 
manufactured  from  the  filings. 

The  tradition  is  that  St.  Helena  made  a  gift  of  it 
to  Rome.  Father  Ollivier  in  his  work  on  the  Passion  ^ 
shows  himself  to  be  even  now  a  believer  not  only  in 
this  nail,  but  also  in  the  tradition  of  the  iron  crown  at 
Monza  and  of  the  Holy  Bit  at  Carpentras. 

However,  the  doubts  expressed  by  R.  de  Fleury  * 
seem  well  grounded.  The  Holy  Nail  in  Santa-Croce 
has  for  its  head  a  kind  of  hollow  cap,  in  the  form  of  a 

^  It  has  been  depicted  by  Bosio,  Crux  triumphans,  L.  i.  c.  xv.  p.  99  ; 
Gosselin,  op.  cit.  p.  140;  R.  de  Fleury,  op.  cit.  p.  172,  pi.  ib'and  the 
figure  on  p.  179. 

2  R.  de  Fleury,  op.  cit.  p.  171. 

^J^a  Passion,  popular  French  edit.  p.  429,  note  1 . 

*0p.  cit.  p.  179. 


ROME'S   PORTION  199 

cardinal's  hat,  to  which  the  upper  end  of  the  nail  is 
riveted.  Such  an  article  would  be  of  little  use  in 
crucifying,  as  any  blow  not  given  directly  on  the  top 
would  send  the  cap  flying.  Possibly  this  nail  is  one 
of  the  twelve  nails  which  Constantine  procured  to  be 
made  from  metal  with  which  had  been  mingled  a  few 
filings  from  the  nail  with  which  he  had  made  a  bit 
for  his  war-horse.  If  so,  then  we  can  easily  explain 
why  Anastasius  never  mentions  this  relic,  and  also 
why  the  emperor  did  not  enshrine  it  in  a  precious 
reliquary. 

Though  it  seems  that  the  Holy  Nail  has  no  right 
to  the  rank  claimed  for  it  by  tradition,  yet  this  does 
not  deprive  it  of  its  history.  It  has  been  argued  that 
the  missing  point  of  the  nail  served  for  the  making  of 
the  famous  iron  crown  of  the  Lombard  kings.^  But 
the  consideration  of  such  questions  as  these  belongs 
rather  to  a  special  work  dealing  exclusively  with  the 
nails  of  the  Passion.^ 


(3)   TJie  Good  Thief;  his  Cross  and  his  Legend 

Our  Saviour's  Cross  and  the  crosses  of  the  two 
thieves  must  all  of  them  have  been  alike,  for  other- 
wise Helena  and  Macarius  would  have  recognised 
immediately  which  was  the  True  Cross. 

In  St.  Helena's  basilica  there  is  a  cross-beam  which 
is  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  good  thief's  cross. 

1  Bosio,  Crux  triiimphans,  L.  i.  c,  xv,  p.  9^.  Fontanini,  Dissertatio 
de  Corona  f err ea,  Rome,  1717,  c.  i.  No.  7. 

^Shortly  before  his  death  Mgr.  X.  Barbier  de  Montault  wrote  a 
dissertation,  in  which  he  strives  to  prove  that  the  crown  at  Monza  is 
not  a  relic  at  all,  but  a  piece  of  handiwork,  of  which  the  maker  was 
the  ninth-century  art-jeweller  Volvinius  (^Kevue  de  I' art  chretien, 
1900  p.  377;  1901,  p.  12). 


200      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

R.  de  Fleury  describes  it  as  follows  ^ : — "  I  saw  at 
Santa-Croce-in-Gerusalemme  a  relic  brought  by  St, 
Helena  and  deposited  in  a  chapel  of  this  ancient 
basilica.  The  importance  of  this  venerable  relic  .  .  . 
justifies  my  describing  it  in  detail.  It  consists  of  a 
huge  lump  of  wood  2-25  m.  in  length  [nearly  seven 
feet],  and  from  155  to  160  mm.  broad.  At  about  the 
middle  of  the  cross-beam  is  a  hole  from  22  to  25  mm. 
in  diameter,  into  which  there  must  once  have  fitted 
a  sort  of  peg.  The  surface  of  the  wood  had  once 
been  smooth,  but  many  splinters  have  been  taken 
from  it,  principally  about  the  hole  just  mentioned. 
Judging  by  the  fibres  and  knots  in  the  wood,  its 
material  must  be  Scotch  pine  or  fir.  It  is  a  light 
brownish-grey  in  colour.  On  a  paper  which  is  en- 
closed with  the  relic  in  the  somewhat  shabby  case 
which  serves  as  a  reliquary,  we  read  : 

Pars  cruets  sancti  Dixmce  boni  latronis." 
Opinions  are  divided  as  to  the  authenticity  of  this 
relic.  We  are  free  to  treat  or  not  to  treat  it  as  a 
relic ;  the  True  Cross  had  been  made  known  by  the 
cure  of  an  inhabitant  of  Jerusalem,  but  we  know  of 
no  like  miracle  which  was  given  to  distinguish  the 
cross  of  the  good  thief  from  that  of  his  companion. 
The  BoUandists  are  reserved ;  they  point  out  that 
according  to  ancient  writers  the  good  thief  had  been 
venerated  more  especially  at  Bruges  in  Belgium ; 
they  also  state  that  some  fragments  of  his  cross  were 
reputed  to  be  kept  at  Bologna  in  the  church  of  SS. 
Vitalis  and  Agricola,  and  in  that  of  St.  Stephen ;  but 
on  the  subject  of  the  cross-beam  preserved  at  Santa 
Croce  they  maintain  a  discreet  silence.^ 

1  Mem.  74, 

2  Acta  SS.    25th  March.     De  S.  Latrone  crucifixo  cum  Christo.    [The 
following  passage  from  the  Arundel  MS.  of  Sir  John  de  Mandeville's 


ROME'S    PORTION  201 

From  the  apocryphal  Gospel  of  Nicodemus  we 
learn  that  the  thieves  crucified  to  the  right  and  left 
of  our  Saviour  were  named  respectively  Dismas  and 
Gesmas/  St.  Matthew  gives  a  striking  account  of 
the  cruelty  of  the  crowd.  They  that  passed  by,  on 
the  road  between  Calvary  and  the  city  walls,  "  blas- 
phemed him,  wagging  their  heads,  and  saying,  Vah, 
thou  that  destroyest  the  temple  of  God,  and  in  three 
days  dost  rebuild  it,  save  thy  own  self.  If  thou  be 
the  son  of  God,  come  down  from  the  cross.  In  like 
manner  also  the  chief  priests,  with  the  scribes  and 
ancients,  mocking  said.  He  saved  others,  himself  he 
cannot  save.  If  he  be  the  king  of  Israel,  let  him  now 
come  down  from  the  cross  and  we  will  believe  him."^ 
Not  one  of  the  witnesses  had  compassion  enough  to 
say  a  kind  word — not  even  the  thieves,  for  they  too 
mocked  at  and  upbraided  him.  "  And  the  selfsame 
thing,  the  thieves  also,  that  were  crucified  with  him, 
reproached  him  with."^ 

But  suddenly  a  cry  was  heard :  "  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."*  At  these 
words  Dismas  grew  silent.  He  had  expected  hard 
words,  and  behold  Christ,  in  the  midst  of  His  tor- 
ments, forgets  His  pain  to  utter  words  of  pardon,  and 
a  prayer  for  His  insulters.  Christ's  cry  brought  a 
light  into  the  soul  of  the  good  thief ;  he  felt  that  to 

Travels  may  be  of  interest :  "  Some  men  trowie  yat  half  of  ye 
crosse  of  Cryste  be  in  Cipre  in  a  abbaye  of  monkes  yat  men  call  ye 
hylle  of  ye  holy  crosse,  bot  it  is  nought  so,  for  yat  crosse  yat  is  in 
Cipre  it  is  ye  crosse  on  ye  whiche  Dysmas  ye  good  thefe  was 
hanggede."     Quoted  by  Berjeau,  Geschiedenis,  Intr.  p.  viii. — Tra7is.] 

1  Evang.    Nicod.    c.  x. ;  Migne,   Diet,  des  Apocryphes,  vol.  i.  col. 
1113. 

2  Mt.  xxvii.  39-43. 

3  Mt.  xxvii.  44. 
*  Lk.  xxiii.  34. 


202     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

love  one's  executioners  was  beyond  the  power  of  man,^ 
and  he  beheved.  The  incident  is  thus  recounted  by 
St.  Luke :  "  One  of  those  robbers  who  were  hanged 
blasphemed  him,  saying,  If  thou  be  Christ,  save 
thyself  and  us.  But  the  other  answering  rebuked 
him,  saying.  Neither  dost  thou  fear  God,  seeing 
thou  art  under  the  same  condemnation ;  and  we  in- 
deed justly,  for  we  receive  the  due  reward  of  our 
deeds,  but  this  man  hath  done  no  evil.  And  he 
said  to  Jesus,  Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  shalt 
come  into  thy  kingdom  ;  and  Jesus  said  to  him : 
Amen,  I  say  to  thee.  This  day  thou  shalt  be  with  me 
in  paradise."  ^  Words  more  full  of  hope  never  had 
been  spoken,  for  they  teach  fallen  man  that  there  is 
no  crime  which  cannot  earn  remission,  save  the  crime 
of  despairing  of  God's  mercy. 

According  to  the  apocryphal  Gospel  of  St.  Peter 
Dismas  gave  vent  to  his  indignation  against  the 
stupid  mockery  of  the  populace,  and  from  his  gibbet 
asked  the  crowd :  *'  What  harm  has  he  done  you  ? " 
The  crowd  then  turned  its  attention  to  him,  and  to 
spite  him  they  persuaded  the  soldiers  sent  by  Pilate 
"  not  to  break  his  legs,  in  order  that  he  might  take 
longer  to  expire,  and  so  suffer  more."^  This  detail, 
however,  conflicts  with  St.  John's  account,  which  states 
that  the  soldiers  broke  the  legs  of  both  the  thieves.^ 

This  striking  episode  of  the  Passion  has  given 
birth  to  all  kinds  of  legends  about  the  penitent  thief. 
Sister  Emmerich,  whom  we  may  quote,  now  that  we 
stand  outside  of  the  realm  of  history,  tells  ^  us  how, 

^  See  OUivier's  touching  pages  on  the  incident  of  the  conversion 
of  the  good  thief,  La  Passion,  396"-400. 
-  Lk.  xxiii,  .S9-ti>. 
3  Ev.  Pebi,  13-14. 
*  Jn.  xix.  31-32. 
''  The  Dolorous  Passion,  p.  257. 


ROME'S    PORTION  203 

during  the  flight  into  Egypt,  the  Holy  Family  was 
cared  for  by  a  band  of  brigands  who  terrorised  the 
Judean  borderland.  Dismas,  the  child  of  one  of  these 
robbers,  had  been  attacked  by  leprosy ;  the  Blessed 
A^irgin  had  bathed  him  in  the  water  with  which  she 
had  washed  her  own  child,  and  Dismas  had  come  out 
of  the  bath  cured,  this  purification  of  his  body  being 
a  kind  of  pledge  of  the  grace  he  was  finally  to  receive 
on  Golgotha. 

In  the  Gospel  of  the  Childhood  the  names  given  to 
the  two  thieves  were  Titus  and  Dumachus.  Once 
upon  a  time  they  had  seen  the  Blessed  Virgin  riding 
an  ass,  with  Jesus  in  her  arms  and  St.  Joseph  trudging 
beside  her.^  "  Said  one  thief  to  the  other,  '  I  pray 
thee  let  these  travellers  pass  in  peace,  lest  our  com- 
panions see  them ' ;  Dumachus  refusing,  Titus  said 
to  him,  '  I  will  give  thee  forty-four  pieces  of  silver, 
for  which  thou  canst  have  my  girdle  as  a  pledge,'  and 
as  good  as  his  word  he  unwound  his  cincture  and  gave 
it  to  his  comrade.  Mary  seeing  the  kindly  disposition 
of  the  thief  said  to  him,  '  May  God  protect  thee  with 
His  right  hand  and  may  He  pardon  all  thy  sins,'  and 
the  Lord  Jesus  also  said  to  Mary,  '  O  mother,  in 
thirty  years'  time,  the  Jews  will  crucify  me  at 
Jerusalem  and  these  two  thieves  will  be  crucified 
with  me,  Titus  on  my  right  side  and  Dumachus  on 
my  left,  and  that  day  Titus  shall  go  before  me  into 
Paradise.' " ' 

But  here  the  legend  has  spoiled  the  story.  It  was 
no  debt  of  gratitude  that  was  paid  by  Christ  on 
Calvary.     "  If  only  thou  didst  know  the  gift  of  God," 

^  This  part  of  the  story  is  found  also  in  Ludolf  the  Carthusian's 
Life  of  Christ. 

2  Ev.  Inf.  c.  xxiii.  ;  Migne,  Diet,  des  Apocryphes,  vol.  i.  col. 
995. 


204      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Christ  had  said  to  the  woman  of  Samaria/  Dismas 
when  he  had  heard  Christ's  words  of  pardon  for  His 
enemies  had  conceived  a  sudden  love^  and  pity  for 
Him  who  had  uttered  them.  For  this  reason  he 
received  the  gift  of  God,  and  was  the  first,  and  perhaps 
the  most  marvellous,  instance  of  salvation  by  love. 


2.    TREVES'    PORTION  ^ 

At  Treves  St.  Helena  passed  some  of  the  happiest 
days  of  her  life.  Here  after  many  years  of  affliction 
she  again  knew  a  mother's  joy  at  being  re-united  with 
her  son,  and  the  honour  of  being  associated  with  him 
on  the  imperial  throne.  Here  too,  as  we  believe,  she 
first  experienced  the  sweetness  attendant  on  conversion 
to  the  Church.  A  Christian  is  in  some  sense  a  native 
of  the  city  in  which  he  is  born  again  to  the  spiritual 
life  by  the  regenerating  waters  of  baptism.  She  then, 
who  left  so  much  to  Rome,  cannot  have  forgotten 
Treves,  her  birthplace  in  the  faith. 

(1)   The  Treves  Tradition' 

We  are  told  that  at  the  request  of  St.  Helena,  and 
with  a  view  of  re-awakening  the  faith  among  the 
natives,  who  almost  all  had  returned  to  paganism. 
Pope  Silvester  sent  as  bishop  to  Treves,  St.  Agricius, 

1  Jn.  iv.  10. 

2  Cp.  St  Paul,  "  Love  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  Law  "—Rom.  xiii.  10. 
3C.     Willems,    Ber   HI.    Rock   Zu    Trier.     Treves,    1891.     Ada 

SS.  LSth  January.  J)e  S.  Agricio  .  .  .  episcopo  Trevirensi.  This 
gives  us  the  Vita  ex  MS.  monasterii  S.  Maximini.  See  also  Chevalier, 
Quelques  questions  stir  une  brochure  intitulee  "  La  Sainte  Kobe  de  Treves  " 
du  Dr  IVillems.  Paris:  Dumoulin,  1892.  Martin,  Archcologie  de  la 
Passion,  Paris  :   Lethielleux,  p.  368  sq. 

*  What  follows  is  largely  borrowed  from  Dr  VVillems'  work. 


TREVES'   POKTION  205 

who  bore  with  him  a  brief  and  a  chest  full  of  relics. 
The  purport  of  the  brief  was  to  confer  on  its  bearer 
the  title  of  primate  of  the  Gauls  ;  the  contents  of  the 
chest  comprised  among  other  things  our  Lord's  Coat, 
a  Holy  Nail,  and  the  Knife  which  had  been  used  at 
the  Last  Supper.  These  gifts  to  Treves,  as  also  the 
foundation  of  Santa-Croce  at  Roine,  must  be  con- 
sidered as  part  of  the  undertakings  which  devolved  on 
Constantine  as  his  mother's  executor. 

In  402  Stilico,  having  learnt  of  Alaric's  plans,  re- 
called to  Italy  the  legions  which  were  quartered  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  In  406  the  prefect  of  the 
praetorium  of  the  Gauls  seeing  himself  threatened  by 
the  approach  of  the  Vandals,  precipitately  quitted 
Treves  with  his  four  hundred  functionaries,  and  trans- 
ferred his  headquarters  to  Aries.  Treves  was  thus  left 
at  the  mercy  of  the  barbarians,  who  sacked  it  four 
times  before  the  end  of  the  fifth  century.  So  thorough 
was  the  city's  ruin  that  at  a  depth  of  about  seven  feet 
there  is  now  found  a  layer  of  ashes,  from  two  to  eight 
inches  thick,  covering  the  foundations  of  the  whole 
Roman  city.  Silvester's  brief  is  supposed  to  have 
perished  in  this  calamity. 

After  the  invasion  we  find  nothing  to  work  on  save 
legends.  We  are  told  that  an  anonymous  visionary 
had  overheard,  whilst  in  ecstasy,  a  conversation  be- 
tween the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul  and  the  proto- 
martyr  St.  Stephen.  Stephen  was  saying :  "  I  beseech 
you,  my  lords,  to  prevent  by  your  intercession  the 
town  of  Metz  from  being  destroyed  by  the  enemy, 
for  it  is  there  that  the  remains  of  my  humble  body 
are  preserved."  However,  the  sins  of  the  city  of  Metz 
were  too  great  to  be  pardoned,  but  St.  Stephen  obtained 
that  his  own  oratory  should  be  spared  by  the  Huns.^ 
^  Greg.  Tur.  Hist  eccl.  Franc.  I.  ii.  c.  vi. ;  P.L.  Ixxi.  198. 


206      THE   FINDING    OF   THE   CROSS 

The  news  of  this  vision  spread,  and  the  people  of 
Treves  being  anxious  to  bring  their  rehcs  to  a  place 
of  safety,  hurriedly  carried  to  St.  Stephen's  oratory 
the  pastoral  staff  sent  by  St.  Peter  to  resuscitate 
Maternus,  and  the  whole  treasure  of  their  basilica. 
St.  Stephen's  chapel  was  spared,  as  had  been  predicted, 
and  St.  Peter's  staff  remained  at  Metz  until  the  Arch- 
bishop Bruno,  brother  to  the  elder  Emperor  Otto, 
demanded  it  for  his  cathedral  of  Cologne.^  As  to  the 
other  portions  of  the  treasure,  including  the  relics 
left  by  St.  Helena,  we  are  told  that  they  were  handed 
back  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century.  So  far  as  I 
know,  there  exists  no  trustworthy  document  which 
bears  out  this  tradition. 

Certain  late  chroniclers  relate  of  Volusian,  a  bishop 
of  Treves  about  467,  that  he  undertook  to  rewrite 
the  brief  of  Pope  Silvester.  Willems  gives  this 
document  as  it  is  found  in  the  Gesta  Treviroruvi : 
"  Bishop  and  primate  of  Treves  receive  to-day 
spiritual  primacy  over  the  Gauls  and  Germans,  even 
that  primacy  which  in  the  times  of  paganism  thou 
didst  hold  from  thyself,  Peter  the  head  of  the  Church 
having  by  the  gift  of  his  staff  bestowed  it  on  thee, 
in  preference  to  all  the  bishops  of  these  nations,  in 
the  persons  of  Eucharius,  Valerius,  and  Maternus, 
who  were  the  earliest  apostles  of  Christianity ;  in 
doing  which,  he  in  some  sense  despoiled  himself  of 
some  of  his  own  honour  to  make  thee  a  partaker 
in  it. 

"  We,  Silvester,  his  servant  and  unworthy  suc- 
cessor, in  thy  favour  renew  and  confirm  this  primacy 
at  the  instance  of  Agricius,  patriarch  of  Antioch,  and 

^  See  the  exceedingly  curious  inscription  engraved  by  Bishop 
Egbert  on  the  reliquary  containing  the  staff.  It  narrates  all  these 
things.     Willems,  op.  cit.  p.  158^. 


TREVES'   rORTION  207 

to  honour  the  birthplace  of  the  Empress  Helena,  who 
was  a  native  of  thy  metropolis.  She  munificently 
enriched  and  specially  favoured  it,  leaving  it  by  deed 
of  gift  the  body  of  the  apostle  St.  Matthias,  which  she 
had  brought  from  Judea,  and  other  relics :  to  wit,  the 
Coat  and  the  Nail  of  our  Lord,  the  head  of  Pope 
Cornelius,  one  of  St.  Peter's  teeth,  the  sandals  of  the 
Apostle  St  Andrew,  and  many  others."^ 

What  value  has  this  curious  document,  even 
supposing  it  to  be  what  it  purports  ?  Is  it  a  hypo- 
thetical reconstruction  made  by  Volusian  according 
to  traditions  which  he  had  collected  ?  Is  it  a  duplicate 
of  some  document  from  the  Vatican  archives  duly 
delivered  by  the  pontifical  chancery  ?  Scholars  are 
divided  on  the  subject. 

The  seamless  Coat,  after  this,  disappears  even  from 
legend.  Almannus,  who  about  880  wrote,  at  the 
instigation  of  Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  a  tract 
against  the  primacy  of  the  church  of  Treves,  says 
nothing  of  it.  Helena,  he  says,  "  filled  a  chest  with 
divers  relics  of  the  martyrs,  in  the  midst  of  which  she 
placed  the  knife,  cultelluvi,  which  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  had  used  at  the  last  most  holy  meal  of  the 
Supper.  By  which  wonderful  act  of  graciousness 
she  wished  to  endow  and  ennoble  her  birthplace."^ 

The  chest  containing  the  relics  remained  shut  for 
centuries  in  the  treasury  of  Treves  cathedral.  The 
clergy,  though  they  retained  the  tradition  that  it 
contained  certain  gifts  from  Constantine's  mother, 
soon  lost  all  recollection  of  the  nature  of  the  relics. 
The  next  time  we  meet  the  story  is  in  the  Life 
of  St.  Agricius,  written  by  some  unknown  writer, 
and  preserved  in  an  MS.   at  the  monastery  of  St. 

1  Willems,  p.  144/ 

-  Acta  SS.     18th  August.     De  S.  Helena,  cap.  x.  §  98. 


208     THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Maximin.  This  life  was  published  by  the  Bollan- 
dists.^ 

According  to  Schmitt  this  life  was  written  after 
the  year  1019,  according  to  Waitz  between  1050 
and  1072.     It  narrates  the  following  episode^ : — 

"  We  have  learnt  from  the  truthful  tradition  of 
the  ancients  that  a  most  pious  bishop  of  this  metro- 
polis (Treves)  was  made  aware  that  opinions  were 
divided  on  the  subject  of  these  relics,  some  affirming 
that  they  comprised  the  seamless  Coat  of  Christ, 
others  that  it  was  the  purple  garment  with  which 
He  was  clothed  during  the  Passion,  others  again  that 
the  pledge  of  love  consisted  of  the  sandals  of  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  As  he  much  desired  to  put 
an  end  to  this  difference  of  opinion  by  discovering  the 
truth,  after  having  taken  counsel  of  the  people  and 
of  the  clergy  both  secular  and  regular,  he  ordered  a 
three  days'  fast  throughout  the  city,  humbly  praying 
the  faithful  to  beseech  God  in  common,  that  by  His 
grace  one  of  them  might  solve  the  mystery. 

"  When  the  fast  was  accomplished  the  clergy  and 
the  people  assembled  in  St.  Peter's  church,  in  which 
the  treasure  was.  A  monk,  noted  for  his  piety,  was 
selected  from  the  crowd  that  he  might  see  the  secret 
of  the  Lord  and  make  it  known  to  the  bishop.  He 
therefore  opened  the  chest  in  which  St.  Agricius  had 
hid  the  treasure,  but  the  moment  he  lifted  the  lid  to 
look  inside,  by  one  of  those  secret  divine  decrees 
which  human  wisdom  cannot  fathom,  he  was  deprived 
of  the  light  of  his  eyes." 

The  faithful  considered  this  sudden  blindness  as  a 
judgment  on  their  inquisitiveness,  for  in  those  days 

^  Acta  SS.      1  .Sth  January.     De  S.  Agricio. 

2  Which  is  summarised  in  Ada  SS.  18th  August.  Helena 
Gloria  Poslhuma,  iii.  §  20. 


TREVES'   PORTION  209 

it  was  considered  a  sacrilege  to  look  on  relics.  Hence 
the  chest  remained  closed,  and  the  people  were  no 
wiser  after  the  incident  than  before.  As  to  when  the 
incident  occurred,  it  cannot  be  placed  farther  back 
than  the  closing  year  of  the  tenth  century.  The 
"  tradition  of  the  ancients  "  to  which  it  refers  is  evi- 
dently the  chat  of  some  old  fellow  who  had  seen,  or 
heard  of,  the  event  in  his  youth. ^  When  was  the 
chest  finally  opened  ?  When  did  the  good  people  of 
Treves  discover  the  real  nature  of  their  treasure  ?  No 
one  can  tell.  However  the  discovery  may  have  come 
about,  in  1101  the  seamless  Coat  definitively  enters 
into  history.  The  Gesta  Trevirorum  states  simply  : 
"  The  bones  of  the  apostle  St.  Matthias  ^  were  buried 
at  the  side  of  the  bodies  of  St.  Eucharius  and  his 
companions.  Our  Lord's  Coat  was  deposited  with 
the  Nail  and  the  other  relics  in  St.  Peter's  church."^ 
After  this  it  is  useless  to  quote  the  numerous  and 
equally  positive  later  documents.  Since  1101  the 
seamless  Coat  has  peaceably  enjoyed  its  rights.  We 
must  now  enter  on  the  examination  of  its  claims  to 
find  out  how  far  they  are  well  founded.  The  ques- 
tions we  now  have  to  answer  are :  Has  it  a  real 
prescriptive  right  to  be  reckoned  as  the  Coat  of 
Christ  ?  And  :  What  is  the  value  of  the  deed  by  which 
Silvester  is  supposed  to  have  bestowed  it  on  the  city 
of  Treves  ? 

(2)   The  Claims  of  the  Seamless  Coat  of  Treves 
We   can   scarcely  doubt    that    Helena   did   leave 

^  Martin,  Archeologie,  p.  369. 

2  The  apostle  elected  to  fill  the  place  of  Judas.     Acts  i.  21-26. 

3  Monumenta  Germ.  V,  viii.  p.  ]  5S.     For  the  date  see  the  proofs 
given  by  Willems,  p.  42. 

o 


210      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

many  precious  relics  to  Treves.  It  is  also  possible 
that  among  these  relics  there  was  Christ's  seamless 
Coat.  But  the  point  we  want  to  ascertain  is  whether 
the  garment  exhibited  at  Treves  is  really  the  seam- 
less garment  worn  by  Christ  when  taken  prisoner. 
Unfortunately,  the  proofs,  to  which  its  defenders 
appeal,  are  anything  but  demonstrative.  They  prove 
neither  the  prescriptive  rights  of  the  Coat  nor  the 
genuineness  of  the  chart  by  which  it  is  supposed  to 
be  authenticated. 

To  be  sound,  the  tradition  should  have  been  con- 
stant, and  unequivocal,  and  public — i.e.  not  confined 
to  a  small  circle.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  tradition 
only  makes  its  appearance  in  the  eleventh  century, 
or  perhaps  in  the  tenth.  Previous  to  that  no  one 
knew  what  the  chest,  sent  by  Helena,  contained. 
The  faithful,  according  to  their  inclinations,  believed 
it  to  hold  either  the  seamless  Coat  or  the  purple 
garment,  or,  again,  the  sandals  of  Christ.  The  arch- 
bishop himself  was  no  wiser  than  the  rest.  He  had 
not  even  the  right  to  say  that  the  mysterious  vest- 
ment had  belonged  to  Christ,  since  there  were  reasons 
to  believe  that  the  relics  of  the  Passion  were  there 
mixed  up  with  those  of  the  martyrs,  there  being  the 
Holy  Nail,  and  the  Knife,  and  the  body  of  St.  Matthias, 
and  the  head  of  Pope  Cornelius,  a  tooth  of  St.  Peter's, 
and  the  sandals  of  St.  Andrew. 

Had  an  inscription  been  attached  to  the  seamless 
Coat,  then  we  should  have  something  on  which  to 
work  ;  but  can  we  imagine  Constantine,  who  certainly 
was  anything  but  stingy  in  the  matter  of  reliquaries, 
leaving  so  precious  and  unique  a  relic  mingled  with 
others  of  far  less  worth  ?  We  cannot  be  surprised  if 
those  cautious  writers,  the  BoUandists,  speak  of  the 
Knife  and  the  Nail,  but  pass  in  silence  over  the  seam- 


TREVES'  PORTION  211 

less  Coat  when  dealing  with  the  gifts  sent  by  St. 
Helena  to  the  Belgian  churches/ 

Then  there  is  the  brief,  which  is  itself  of  scarcely 
less  dubious  character  than  the  relic  it  is  supposed 
to  authenticate.  This  brief  of  Pope  Silvester's  is 
found  in  three  works,  all  of  them  belonging  to 
the  eleventh  or  twelfth  century ;  in  the  Life  of  St. 
Agricius,  written  between  1019  and  1072  ;  "  in  the 
Chronicle  of  Hugo  of  Flavigny,  written  about  1100,^ 
which  seems  to  be  copied  from  a  more  ancient 
text  found  at  Verdun  by  Father  Sirmond,  in  a 
MS.  of  conciliar  decrees ;  and  lastly,  it  is  found 
in  the  Gesta  Trevirorum^^  a  work  of  uncertain 
date. 

Of  course,  a  brief  can  perish,  but  to  admit  that  this 
one  ever  really  existed  we  must  have  some  solid 
reason.  Now  between  the  fifth  and  the  sixth 
century  no  chronicler  mentions  this  letter,  not  even 
Almannus,  who,  had  it  existed,  would  have  been 
bound  to  impugn  it  when  writing  against  the 
primacy  of  the  church  of  Treves. 

AVe  are  told  indeed  that  we  have  copies  of  the 
brief,  but  when  we  examine  them  we  find  that  they 
differ  on  the  very  point  in  question.  The  only  point 
they  agree  on  is  that  the  archbishop  of  Treves  was 
created  primate  of  the  Gauls  ;  here  one  writer  copies 
the  other ;  but  as  to  the  character  of  Helena's  legacy 
to  the  church  of  Treves,  we  find  nothing  but  dis- 
agreement. The  Verdun  MS.,  which  may  be  the 
most  ancient,  speaks  o^the  body  of  the  Apostle  Matthias 

1  Acta  SS.     De  S.  Helena,  18th  August,  §  10. 
"^  Acta  SS.      13th  January. 
^  Monum.  Germ.  vol.  viii.  p.  298. 

*  Mojiiim.  Germ.  vol.  viii.  p.  153^  and  Gesta  Trev.  ed.  Wyttenbach 
and  Miiller, 


212      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

and  other  I'elics  of  I  he  hord}  The  anonymous  writer 
of  the  Life  of  St.  Agricius  adds  a  detail,  and  speaks 
of  the  body  of  Matthias,  the  Nail,  and  other  relics  of 
the  Lord.^  Lastly,  the  chronicler  of  the  Gesta 
Trcvirorum,  goes  further  still,  and  mentions  besides 
the  body  of  Matthias,  the  tunic  [or  seamless  Coat]  and 
the  Nail  of  the  Lord,  the  head  of  Pope  Cornelius,  St. 
Peter's  tooth,  and  St.  Andrew's  sandals. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  meaning  of  these 
divergencies.  Father  Beissel,  a  German  Jesuit,  was 
the  first  to  point  out  that  the  allusion  to  the  seamless 
tunic  is  an  interpolation  for  which  the  writer  of  the 
Gesta  is  responsible.^  Willems  indeed  argues  that 
the  Gesta  is  more  ancient  than  the  other  documents  ; 
but  Martin  rightly  replies,*  alluding  to  the  prolixity  of 
the  Gesta  when  compared  with  the  other  works : 
"  The  most  ancient  text  is  the  shorter,  for  we  know 
that  mediccval  chroniclers  were  not  in  the  habit  of 
abbreviating  such  documents,  and  still  less,  of  sup- 
pressing any  mention  of  relics.  For  a  suppression  to 
have  occurred  here  we  should  have  to  seek  a  motive, 
and  such  a  motive  is  not  to  be  found." 

The  tradition  is  surrounded  by  improbabilities. 
The  Archbishop  Egbert  in  the  inscription  on  the 
reliquary  containing  St.  Peter's  staff  says  that  the 
treasure  of  Treves  was  sent  to  ]\letz  to  prevent  its 
destruction.  Were  this  the  case,  Silvester's  brief 
would  have  gone  with  the  relics,  and  also  would 
have  accompanied  them  when  they  returned  in  more 
peaceful  times. 

^  Per  a])ostolum  Matthiam,  Judsea  translatum,  ca'teris  reliquiis 
Donmii. 

2  Cum  clavo  caeterisque  reliquiis  Domini. 

^S.  Beissel,  Geschichte  des  heiligen  Rorkex.  Treves,  188P.  2nd  ed. 
p.  60.  *  Martin,  Arch,  de  la  Pass.  371. 


TREVES'   PORTION  213 

We  must  go  further,  and  say  that  the  whole  story 
of  Volusian's  reconstruction  in  467  of  Silvester's 
brief  is  apocryphal.  Had  the  church  of  Treves 
possessed  such  a  duplicate  she  would  have  known 
the  character  of  the  treasure  which  was  kept  so 
secretly  ;  she  would  never  have  forgotten  the  presence 
of  the  seamless  Coat,  for  the  document  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  set  any  doubts  at  rest.  The  fact  of 
the  archbishop  having  been  obliged  to  depute  a  monk 
to  examine  the  contents  of  the  chest  proves  that  he 
did  not  possess  the  reconstructed  brief,  probably 
because  such  an  article  never  existed. 

Moreover,  the  document  contains  some  glaring 
inaccuracies.  It  speaks  of  Helena  as  having  been 
born  at  Treves,  whereas  Pope  Silvester  would  have 
known  that  she  was  really  a  native  of  Drepane.  It 
confers  on  the  archbishop  of  Treves  the  title  of 
primate  of  the  Gauls,  whereas  such  a  dignity  was 
at  that  time  not  in  the  power  of  the  Roman  pontiff. 
In  the  early  ages  ecclesiastical  divisions  of  territory 
were  based  on  the  civil  divisions.^  The  Council  of 
Chalcedon  (451)  ordained  that  in  the  case  of  a  new 
town  being  founded,  the  spiritual  government  of  the 
place  was  to  follow  the  temporal.^  Macarius,  bishop 
of  Jerusalem,  could  not  persuade  the  Nicene  Council 
to  declare  him  independent  of  the  bishop  of  C^esarea, 
which  wasthecapital of  theprovince  of  Palestine.  Now 
Treves  being  the  headquarters  of  the  pra?torium  was 
by  this  very  fact  the  metropolitan  diocese  of  Gaul. 

1  Longnon,  Geographic  de  la  Gaule  au  VJ^  siecle,  Paris  :  Hachette, 
1878,  p.  2. 

2  Si  vero  quaelibet  civitas  per  auctoritatem  imperialera  renovata 
est,  aut  si  renovetur  in  posterum,  civilibus  et  publicis  ordinationibus, 
etiam  ecclesiarum  parochianarum  sequatur  ordinatio.  Canon  xvii. 
Labbe,  Sacrorum  Concilioim  coUectio  (Florentiae,  1767),  torn.  vii. 


214      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Its  bishop  having  to  treat  with  the  civil  powers  of 
the  three  Galhc  provinces  was  necessarily,  from  the 
beginning,  primate  of  the  Gauls,  and  such  indeed  he 
remained  so  long  as  the  civil  arrangements  remained 
the  same.  AVhen  in  408  the  prefecture  was  transferred 
to  Aries,  the  archbishop  of  Treves  ipso  facto  ceased 
being  metropolitan. 

The  primate  of  the  Gauls,  according  to  the  old 
principle  which  was  again  confirmed  by  the  Council 
of  Turin  in  397,  was  the  bishop  of  Aries.  To 
him,  according  to  the  instructions  given  by  Pope 
Zosimus  (417),  pilgrims  were  to  apply  when  requiring 
a  safe-conduct  from  Gaul  to  Rome.  In  557,  to  get 
rid  of  the  difficulties  caused  by  the  constant  redis- 
tribution of  the  country  which  went  on  under  the 
Frankish  kings.  Pope  Pelagius  confirmed  Sapandus, 
bishop  of  Aries,  in  the  primacy,  and  also  created  him 
his  vicar ;  and  he  did  so  not  because  of  any  claims 
made  on  behalf  of  the  archbishop  of  Treves,  but  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  claims  of  the  bishop  of  Vienne.^ 
Hence  the  document  supposed  to  have  been  drawn 
up  by  V^olusian  would  have  gone  counter  to  the  then 
law. 

Nor  do  we  find,  when  we  come  to  examine  the 
Coat  of  Treves,  that  it  agrees  with  the  details  given 
by  the  Gospel.     In  St.  John  we  find  " : 

"  The  soldiers  therefore,  when  they  had  crucified  him  took  his 
garments,  and  they  made  four  parts,  to  every  soldier  a  part ;  and  also 
his  coat :  now  the  coat  was  without  seam,  woven  from  the  top 
throughout.  They  said  then  one  to  another.  Let  us  not  cut  it, 
but  let  us  cast  lots  for  it,  whose  it  shall  be." 

So  far  as  we  can  now  discover,  the  clothing  used  by 
the  Jews  consisted  of  several  parts  :  of  a  shirt ;  of  a 

^  Longnon,  op.  cit.  p.  183.  ^  jn.  xix.  23. 


TREVES'   POKTION  215 

inachanase,  an  article  of  dress  which  is  described  by 
Josephus  as  being  "  in  the  nature  of  breeches  "  ^ ;  of  a 
coat ;  and  of  a  mantle,^  In  winter  -  time  double 
clothing  was  worn.^ 

Thanks  to  the  reports  drawn  up  in  1890  by  direction 
of  Bishop  Korum  and  his  coadjutor,  Bishop  Feiten, 
we  now  know  the  Treves  relic  in  its  every  detail : 
'  The  matter  of  the  tissue,  which  is  of  a  uniform, 
brownish  colour,  is  apparently  linen  or  cotton."*  As 
the  whole  robe  was  in  a  very  mouldly  condition,  it 
was  first  thoroughly  cleansed,  and  then  the  examina- 
tion was  proceeded  with.  It  was  described  as 
follows : — 

"  On  the  collar  and  the  cuffs  and  at  the  bottom  of 
the  garment  there  are  to  be  seen  remains  of  some 
embroidery,  in  which  red  and  green  colours  are  still 
perceptible.  We  can  also  see  traces  that  two  similar 
lines  of  embroidery  went  from  the  neck  down  to  the 
lower  edge  of  the  tunic.  From  the  collar  there  hung 
some  twenty  tassels,  of  which  eighteen  are  still  perfect; 
they  are  formed  of  bundles  of  threads,  apparently  of 
silk ;  each  of  these  is  from  10  to  47  c.  in  length  and 
from  1  to  6  mm.  thick."  From  this  we  can  see  that 
the  Treves  relic  is  an  outer  coat.  Was  the  tunic  for 
which  the  soldiers  drew  lots  an  outer  garment  ? 

The  two  verses  from  St.  John's  Gospel  which  we 
quoted  above  early  gave  rise  to  a  legend,  according 
to  which  the  piece  of  clothing  in  question  was  an 
under-garment  that  had  been  woven  by  the  Virgin 

^  Jos.  Ant.  III.  vii.  1. 

2  [The  dress  of  the  Syrian  Arabs  agrees  with  this  description. 
They  wear  a  shirt,  loose  drawers,  and  a  long  coat  kept  closed  by  a 
girdle.  The  latter  they  frequently  unwind  and  bind  about  their 
heads  as  a  turban. — Trans.^^ 

^  Vestiti  sunt  duplicibus.     Prov.  xxxi.  21. 

*Willems,  p.  121. 


216      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Mary  for  Jesus  when  He  was  yet  an  infant.  As  the 
child  grew,  the  tunic  grew  with  Him.  We  can  afford 
to  smile  at  such  a  charming  little  story,  though  it 
hardly  agrees  with  the  Gospel,  as,  according  to  it, 
Christ  would,  from  His  cradle  to  Calvary,  have  been 
living  enveloped  in  miracle,  whereas  according  to  the 
Gospel  His  first  miracle  was  performed  at  Cana.^ 
But  in  one  respect  the  legend  is  right.  The  object 
for  which  the  legionaries  drew  lots  was  an  under- 
garment. By  the  Vulgate  it  is  described  as  a  tunic, 
tunica ;  the  Greek  text  has  xltoov,  a  word  which 
dictionaries  are  unanimous  in  rendering  as  "  an  under- 
garment, Latin  tunica,  both  of  men  and  women,"  as 
a  "  sleeveless  woollen  shirt  worn  next  to  the  body." 
Hence  the  Treves  relic,  which  is  a  coat,  and  not  a 
shirt,  is  not  the  garment  alluded  to  in  the  Gospel ; 
but  may  we  perhaps  say  that  at  least  it  belonged  to 
our  Saviour  ? 

When  reading  Bishop  Korum's  report  there  is  one 
omission  which  is  bound  to  strike  the  reader.  Jesus 
had  been  maltreated,  covered  with  spittle,  scourged, 
and  crowned  with  thorns.  His  clothing  must  have 
been  torn  and  soiled  by  His  blood,  but  of  all  this  we 
find  not  a  trace  in  the  official  description  of  the  Holy 
Coat  of  Treves.  The  distinguished  prelate's  minute 
report  merely  depicts  a  comfortable  gown,  which  from 
its  general  appearance  would  seem  to  have  belonged 
to  a  man  of  means.  How  then  could  the  opinion 
that  this  was  the  seamless  Coat  have  arisen  ? 

The  relic  is  wrapped  up  in  some  ancient  tissue, 
embroidered  with  birds,  which  Dr  Bock  declared  to 
be  of  Eastern  workmanship  and  to  date  from  the  time 
of  Justinian.  For  centuries  it  was  kept  hidden. 
Doubtless  the  tissue  in  question  indicates  the  age  at 

1  Jn.  ii.  11. 


TREVES'   PORTION  217 

which  the  rehc  was  last  exposed,  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  From  that  time  onwards  all  is 
mystery  until  the  verification  occurred  which  is  de- 
scribed in  the  Life  of  St.  Agricius,  a  work  seemingly  of 
the  eleventh  century.  Soon  after  that  time  it  became 
the  custom  to  exhibit  the  relic,  and  on  the  receptacle 
being  explored  it  was  found  to  contain  a  seamless  coat. 

Now  the  people  of  the  Middle  Ages  firmly  believed 
that  the  seamless  Coat  of  which  St.  John  speaks  was 
alone  of  its  kind,  and  they  immediately  inferred  that 
the  mysterious  relic  was  indeed  the  article  for  which 
lots  had  been  drawn  on  Calvary.  Of  course,  their 
premises  were  wrong ;  seamless  gowns  were  common 
in  the  East.  There  is  no  need  of  appealing  to  the 
Egyptian  mummies ;  we  may  establish  this  point  by 
quoting  from  Josephus  his  account  of  the  Meeir  which 
the  high  priest  wore  under  his  ephod  and  above  his 
under-garment  ^ :  "  This  vesture  was  not  composed 
of  two  pieces,  nor  was  it  sewn  together  upon  the 
shoulders  and  the  sides,  but  it  was  one  long  vestment, 
so  woven  as  to  have  an  aperture  for  the  neck." 

To  sum  up,  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  Holy 
Coat  of  Treves  is  Christ's  tunic.  It  has  no  prescrip- 
tive right  to  this  title,  the  brief  which  accompanies  it 
is  worthless,  and  speaking  generally,  there  is  no  argu- 
ment whatever  in  its  favour.  Nevertheless,  we  have 
reasons  to  believe  that  it  was  truly  a  gift  of  Helena, 
and  consequently  it  may  be  maintained  that  it  is 
really  a  relic,  but  a  relic  of  whom  ?  Silvester's  brief 
is  spurious ;  but  the  work  of  Almannus  is  not,  and 
according  to  this  writer,  who  wrote  about  the  year 
880,  it  was  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that 
Helena's  gift  to  the  church  of  Treves  consisted  of 
some  relics  of  the  martyrs,  amidst  which  was  the  knife 

1  Jos.  AfU.  Ill,  vii.  4. 


218      THE   FINDING    OF   THE   CROSS 

used  at  the  Last  Supper.  The  forger  of  Silvester's 
brief  simply  transformed  the  relics  of  the  martyrs  into 
relics  of  our  Lord ;  such  transformations  were  not 
rare  in  those  days.  Hence  the  gown  kept  at  Treves 
is  not  improbably  an  article  of  dress  belonging  to  an 
early  martyr ;  it  might  possibly  be  argued  that  it 
belonged  to  St.  Matthias,  whose  body  the  chest  is  said 
to  have  contained. 

(3)   The  other  Relics  kept  at  Ti^eves 

Tradition,  as  we  have  seen,  holds  that  among  the 
relics  presented  to  Treves  by  St.  Helena  there  was  the 
knife  used  at  the  Last  Supper,  and  a  nail  used  at 
the  Crucifixion.  With  regard  to  the  knife,  it  is 
mentioned  by  Almannus  as  the  only  relic  of  the  Lord 
preserved  at  St.  Peter's  church  in  Treves.  So  far  as 
possession  goes,  Treves  can  claim  it,  but  as  judicious 
historians  we  must  state  that  this  knife  had  rivals. 
A  knife,  said  to  have  served  the  same  purpose,  was  for 
ages  the  attraction  of  the  church  of  St.  Samson  at 
Orleans.  Pilgrims  on  their  way  to  St.  James  of 
Compostella  were  wont  to  break  their  journey  to 
come  and  pray  before  it.^ 

With  regard  to  the  Holy  Nail  of  Treves,  it  is  open 
to  the  same  objections  as  that  of  Rome.  Riant's 
Exuviae  sacTae  Constantinopolitanae  gives  us  the  only 
means  of  distinguishing  the  authentic  Nails  from  those 
which  are  but  copies.  According  to  the  Western 
sixth-century  tradition,  which  is  vouched  for  by  St. 
Gregory  of  Tours,"  the  Nails  were  thus  distributed : 
of  the  first  was  made  the  bit  already  alluded  to,  the 

1  Couret,  I^es  Lcgendes  du  S.  S^pulcre,  p.  47,  note  1.  He  quotes  as 
his  reference  the  Codex  of  St.  James  Gampostella  [Liber  de  miraculis 
S.  Jacobi),  iv.  ed.  Fita.     Paris:  Maisonneuve,  1882. 

2  De  Gloria  Martyrum,  i.  6. ;  P.L.  Ixxi.  710. 


TREVES'   PORTION  219 

second  was  placed  on  the  imperial  crown,  the  third 
was  thrown  into  the  Adriatic,  the  fourth  was  placed 
in  the  nimbus  of  the  statue  of  Apollo,  which  repre- 
sented Constantine  at  the  summit  of  the  great  stone 
column  at  Constantinople.  Of  course,  this  is  all  the 
merest  legend,  but  it  serves  to  prove  one  thing — viz. 
that  the  Holy  Nail  of  Treves  was  not  known  at  this 
period. 

We  know  now  that  the  Eastern  emperors  preserved 
most  jealously  the  Nails  of  the  Passion.  In  1092 
Alexius  Comnenus  I.  sent  to  Robert  of  Flanders  an 
urgent  appeal  to  the  whole  of  Christendom.  In  his 
letter  he  enumerates  the  relics  which  he  has  in  his 
possession,  and  which  he  wishes  to  be  saved  from  the 
fury  of  the  Mohammedans  ;  among  these  relics  were 
the  Nails.^  Nicholas  Soemundarson,  abbot  of  Thin- 
geyrar  in  Iceland  saw  them  there  in  1157.^  A  like 
testimony  is  given  by  William  of  Tyre  in  1190.^  In 
1190  likewise,  an  anonymous  traveller  paid  a  visit  to 
the  treasure  kept  in  the  imperial  palace  chapel  of 
Buccoleon,  and  states  that  he  there  saw  a  whole  nail 
and  half  of  another ;  the  lower  portion  of  the  latter, 
he  says,  was  given  to  the  Emperor  Charlemagne,  and 
is  now  at  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis  ;  the  third  had  been 
left  in  the  royal  chapel  at  Jerusalem  ;  *  and  the  fourth 
had  served  to  make  a  bit  for  Constantine's  horse.  In 
1157  this  so-called  Holy  Bit  formed  a  part  of  the 
imperial  treasure.''  The  two  former  Nails  were  seen 
as  late  as  1203  by  Robert  of  Clari."     The  first  can  be 

1  Clavi  quibus  affixus  fuit.     Exuvice,  ii.  208. 

2  Exuvice,  ii.  2 1.3. 

'  Hist,  belli  sacri,  xx.  cap.  23  ;  Exuvice,  ii.  21 6. 
*  Descriptio  sanctuarii  Constantinopolitaiii.     Exuvice,  ii.  217. 
^  Nicolaus  Thingerensis,  Exuvice,  ii.  214. 

^  Li  estoires  de  chiaus  qui  conquisent  Constantinoble.     Exuvice, 
ii.  231. 


220      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

no  other  than  that  which  Constantine  was  accustomed 
to  carry  sometimes  on  his  hehnet  and  at  other  times 
on  his  crown. 

Hence  Riant  has  really  succeeded  in  locating  all 
the  four  Nails.  Had  we  room  here  to  enter  into  the 
question  at  all  fully,  we  might  be  able  to  show  that 
the  Nail  which  was  once  in  the  royal  chapel  of 
Jerusalem  has  been  lost,  that  the  Bit  is  probably  at 
Carpentras,  that  the  whole  Nail  once  kept  at  Con- 
stantinople was  ceded  to  the  Venetians  in  the  crusade 
of  1204,  and  that  Notre-Dame  at  Paris  has  inherited 
the  portion  of  the  Nail  once  venerated  at  the  abbey 
of  St.  Denis. 

But  there  is  a  tradition,  which  is  borne  out  by 
some  archaeological  discoveries,  that  Constantine  had 
twelve  copies  made,  each  of  which  contained  a  little 
of  the  filings  from  his  horse's  bit.  Doubtless  it  is 
one  of  these  that  Treves,  like  Santa-Croce,  possesses. 

The  Treves  Nail  is  without  its  sharp  end,  which  is 
venerated  at  Toul.^  According  to  the  inventory 
made  in  1776  the  Nail  was  kept  in  an  ivory  reliquary 
which  had  been  made  at  the  command  of  Egbert,  a 
tenth-century  bishop."  The  Life  of  St.  Agricius^ 
relates  in  connection  with  it  a  curious  tale.  Bruno, 
brother  of  the  Emperor  Otto  I.  (936-973),  being 
desirous  of  obtaining  it  by  hook  or  by  crook,  bribed 
the  custodian  of  the  Treves  treasure.  The  latter 
accordingly  made  so  perfect  a  duplicate  of  the  Nail 
that  one  could  not  possibly  be  told  from  the  other. 
He  received  the  price  of  his  simony,  put  the  imitation 
in  the  reliquary,  and  wrapping  the  real  relic  in  a  linen 
cloth,  he  put  it  in  his  pocket.  But,  wonderful  to 
relate,  blood  began  to  flow  from  the  Nail,  and  soon 

^  R.  de  Fleury,  op.  cit.  p.  180. 

2  Martin,  op.  cit.  p.  329.  ^  Acta  SS.     13th  January. 


BESANgON'S   PORTION  221 

the  unhappy  wretch  was  drenched,  and  being  seized 
with  remorse,  avowed  his  crime.  Brower  places 
this  episode  in  the  year  1027,  and  states  that  it  was 
Theodore,  bishop  of  Metz,  who  corrupted  the  warden. 
The  anonymous  monk  of  St.  Maximinus,  and  also 
Justus  Lipsius,  state  that  a  female  demoniac,  at  the 
moment  when  she  was  being  exorcised,  revealed  that 
the  Nail  had  pierced  Christ's  right  foot.  In  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  relic  again  passed  through  some 
vicissitudes,  and  only  returned  to  the  cathedral  of 
Treves  after  having  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Nassau 
government  from  the  year  1805  to  1838,  and  after- 
wards in  the  possession  of  Prince  Metternich. 

3.  besancon's  portion 

St.  Helena  spent  at  Besan^on  a  few  hours  in  the 
greatest  distress  of  mind.  She  had  followed  the 
army  of  her  son,  who  was  marching  against  Maxen- 
tius,  and  she  stopped  here  to  rest  and  pray  at  the 
little  church  of  St.  Stephen.  Here  she  offered  her 
fasts,  and  her  tears,  and  her  prayers  to  the  God  of 
Battles,^  beseeching  Him  to  have  regard  for  her  faith. 
The  vow  she  made  here,  she  performed  in  due  season, 
and  after  the  victory  at  the  Milvian  bridge  a  basilica 
replaced  the  humble  chapel  in  which  she  had  prayed. 

But  she  was  not  satisfied  with  so  small  a  token  of 
her  affection  for  this  city.  When  she  had  exhumed 
the  Cross  and  the  Holy  Places  she  proceeded  to  collect 
all  the  souvenirs  she  could  find  of  the  Apostolic  age. 
Many  such  articles  she  directed  should  be  given  to 
Besan^on.  Unfortunately,  the  case  containing  them 
was  confided  to  the  skipper  of  a  barge  which  was 
ascending  the  Rhone  loaded  with  marble.  The  boat 
^  Hugo  of  Flavigny,  Monum.  Germ.  vol.  viii.  p.  298. 


222      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

safely  entered  the  Doubs,  but  there  it  was  wrecked 
when  still  at  some  distance  from  the  city.^  The  gift 
of  the  empress  long  remained  at  the  bottom  of  the 
river.  Almannus  supposes  that  some  part  of  the 
precious  burden  was  recovered,  but  history  has 
naught  to  say  of  the  recovery. 

^  Almannus  Altivillarensis.      Vita  S.  Helence,  c.  v.  §  52  in  Ada  SS. 
18th  August. 


CHAPTER  VII 

OBJECTIONS   AGAINST  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FINDING 
OF   THE   CROSS 

The  story  of  the  finding  of  the  Cross  is  open  to  two 
objections.  It  has  been  contended  that  it  presup- 
poses an  impossibihty — viz.  the  incorruptibihty  of  the 
wood  ;  and  secondly,  that  the  texts  on  which  the  story 
is  based  are  unreHable.  The  first  objection  may  be 
easily  disposed  of,  but  the  second  will  require  more 
ainple  consideration. 

It  has  been  said  that  a  piece  of  common  deal,  such 
as  was  the  wood  of  the  Cross,  could  not  have  remained 
so  long  buried  in  the  cavern  without  rotting  away. 

At  the  request  of  R.  de  Fleury,  two  scientists, 
Decaisne  of  the  Paris  Institut  and  P.  Savi,  a  pro- 
fessor of  the  university  of  Pisa,  submitted  to  examina- 
tion under  the  miscroscope,  certain  fragments  of  the 
True  Cross  taken  from  Santa-Croce  at  Rome,  and 
from  the  cathedrals  of  Pisa,  of  Florence,  and  of 
Notre-Dame  at  Paris.  As  a  result  of  the  examina- 
tion it  was  decided  that  these  various  fragments  all 
belonged  to  the  pine  tribe. ^ 

"  As  to  the  preservation  of  the  wood,"  adds  de 
Fleury,  "  I  could  quote  many  other  equally  re- 
markable instances.  At  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii, 
much  ancient  woodwork  was  found  intact.  Here, 
indeed,  its  preservation  might  be  set  down  to  the 
action  of  the  fire ;  but  we  have  other  examples  in 
point,  such  as  the  wooden  stays  which  were  found 

^  R.  de  Fleury,  Mem.  p.  62. 
223 


224      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

by  Simonin  still  standing  in  the  Etruscan  mines  of 
Campaglia,^  or  the  beams  retaining  the  banks  which 
conveyed  the  aqueducts  of  Carthage,  or  the  piles, 
recently  discovered  in  the  harbour  of  this  same  ancient 
city,  which  have  been  shown  to  be  of  a  species  of 
wood  similar  to  that  of  the  Cross.  Some  fragments 
of  this  Carthaginian  wood,  which  were  exhibited  at 
the  French  Academy  of  Sciences  by  Peligot  in  1857, 
were  described  by  Decaisne  as  belonging  to  trees  of 
the  coniferous  tribe,  probably  to  some  species  of  fir 
or  pine. " " 

In  fact,  we  find  wood  even  amidst  prehistoric 
remains.  "  In  the  Stone- Age,"  writes  Mortillet,^ 
"  axe-heads  were  often  fixed  to  a  wooden  handle.  In 
the  Swiss  lake-settlements  several  such  handles  have 
been  found  with  the  heads  still  attached  ^ ;  they  have 
likewise  been  found  in  England."  The  same  writer, 
speaking  elsewhere  of  the  scarcity  of  wood  in  pre- 
historic times,  remarks :  "  Wooden  handles  for  all 
kinds  of  tools  are  fairly  common,  but  what  we  find 
more  often  are  remains  of  houses,  and  especially  of 
piles.  Usually  that  portion  of  the  latter  which  is 
exposed  to  the  air,  quickly  rots,  but  the  lower  portion, 
which  is  permanently  in  the  water  or  buried  in  the 
soil,  is  often  remarkably  well  preserved,  so  much  so 
that  such  wood  is  sold  to  cabinet-makers  to  be  made 
up  into  imitation  old  furniture.  In  the  peat-fields 
have  been  found  also  the  boards,  which  in  days  of  old 
formed  the  floor  of  the  lake-dwellers'  abodes.  In  this 
case  the  wood  had  been  preserved  by  the  silt  which 
had  drifted  over  it."^ 

^  Simonin,  La  Toscane  el  la  mer  Thyrrhenienne. 

2  R.  de  Fleury,  Mem.  p.  5S.  ^  Le  Prihistorique,  p.  543. 

^  Musee  prchisloriqtie,  Nos.  439,  440. 

5  Le  Prehistorique,  p.  556. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE    STORY        225 

Now,  in  the  cavern  below  St.  Helena's  chapel  the 
Cross  was  in  much  the  same  position  as  the  piles  just 
spoken  of.  The  cavern  was  excavated  to  receive  the 
rain-water  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  even  when  it 
had  been  filled  with  rubbish  the  water  still  found  its 
way  down  through  the  crevices,  and  then  lay  stagnant, 
transforming  the  soil  around  the  Cross  into  a  bed  of 
mud,  which  effectually  screened  it  against  the  ravages 
of  time. 

We  now  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the  objection 
of  those  who  hold  that  historically  we  have  no  reason 
for  believing  in  the  finding  of  the  Cross.  Until  the 
time  of  the  Reformation  St.  Helena  was  universally 
believed  to  have  found  the  Cross  ;  but  when  Pro- 
testantism arose,  the  Reformers  were  led  by  their 
zeal  against  relic-worship  to  contest  the  validity  of 
the  tradition.  Their  first  manifesto  was  contained  in 
the  famous  INIagdeburg  Centuries,  a  work  which  by 
Brunet  ^  is  ascribed  to  the  editorship  of  a  certain 
Francowitz  or  Flaccus  Illyriacus,  but  which  is  due  to 
the  collective  efforts  of  a  school  of  scholars  and 
theologians  belonging  to  the  city  of  Magdeburg.^ 
As  the  criticism  there  offered  is  exceedingly  interest- 
ing, we  shall  summarise  their  conclusions. 

"  The  miraculous  finding  of  the  Cross  to  which 
Christ  had  been  nailed  is  spoken  of  by  Ambrose  in 
his  funeral  oration  on  the  death  of  Theodosius,  and 
also  by  Rufinus,  Socrates,  Theodoret,  and  Sozomen. 
Eusebius,  who  was  a  contemporary,  and  who  in  the 
third  book  of  his  Life  of  Constantine  mentions 
Helena  and  Constantine  having  restored  to  light 
the  spot  of  Christ's  Resurrection,  says  nothing  of  the 

^  Manuel  du  bibliophile. 

-  Qiiarta     Centuria    ecclesiasticce    histories    continens     descriptiotiem 
amplissimarum  rerum  in  regno  Christi,  Basilese,  1560^  col.  1438  ^. 
P 


226      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

finding,  and,  in  fact,  it  might  be  supposed  that  he  was 
entirely  ignorant  of  it,  were  it  not  for  the  following 
passage  which  occurs  in.  his  Chronicle : — '  In  the  year 
of  the  Lord  325,  and  the  sixteenth  of  Constantine's 
reign,  Helena,  his  mother,  being  admonished  by 
visions,  brought  to  light  at  Jerusalem  the  most 
blessed  wood  of  the  Cross  to  which  the  world's 
Salvation  had  been  nailed.'  ^  But  was  it  not  an  easy 
matter  for  a  late-comer  to  have  interpolated  these 
words  in  his  book  ?  ^  Hence  we  have  no  testimony 
prior  to  that  of  Ambrose." 

The  Centuriators  having  given  St.  Ambrose's 
narrative,  then  proceed  :  "  According  to  Erasmus  the 
oration  is  not  from  the  pen  of  Ambrose,  and  historians 
are  still  doubtful  concerning  its  authenticity."  ^  They 
then  narrate  the  different  events  which  are  supposed 
to  have  followed.  According  to  some  of  the  Fathers 
Constantine  buried  a  piece  of  the  True  Cross  under 
the  pedestal  of  the  porphyry  column  which  bore  his 
statue  (as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  a  statue,  not  of 
Constantine,  but  of  Apollo).  The  Centuriators  upon 
this  remark  that  "  this  opinion  is  a  fond  invention  and 
disagrees  with  the  character  of  the  good  emperor 
Constantine,  who,  knowing  but  little  of  Christian 
doctrine,  would  not  have  ascribed  to  a  piece  of  wood 
the  power  of  preserving  the  city.  If  he  did  anything 
of  the  sort,  it  was  probably  to  preserve  the  memory  of 
Christ's  Passion.  We  may  leave  such  idle  fancies  to 
Socrates  and  those  other  superstitious  writers  who, 
after  having  fallen  away  from  the  purity  of  faith,  strove 

1  Chron.  an.  321  ;  P.L.  xxvii.  671. 

2  This  criticism  of  the  Centuriators  seems  well  founded.  The 
passage  in  question  is  not  found  in  the  Greek  text  of  Eusebius. 

^  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  De  obitu  Theodosii  is  now  acknowledged 
to  be  a  production  of  St.  Ambrose. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        227 

to  disfigure  the  vestiges  of  antiquity  with  superstitious 
and  idolatrous  notions,  fabricating  all  sorts  of  legends 
and  wonders.  Such  a  man  was  Nicephorus,  who  tells 
us  that  a  piece  of  the  third  cross  was  placed  by  Con- 
stantine  in  the  marble  column  in  the  Artopolia — i.e. 
in  the  principal  square  of  Constantinople — and  that  by 
the  power  of  this  relic  all  those  who  suffered  from 
inflammation  or  pain  in  the  eyes  were  cured  ;  and  that 
three  times  in  the  year,  in  the  silence  of  the  night,  an 
angel  of  the  Lord  was  wont  to  descend  like  a  flash  of 
lightning  on  to  the  column,  and  after  having  spread 
abroad  the  sweet  smell  of  incense  and  sung  the 
Trisagion,  would  disappear  like  a  meteor.  The  same 
author  likewise  states  (L.  viii.  c.  Iv.)  that  many  miracles 
took  place  about  the  tomb  of  Constantine  the  Great, 
and  before  the  same  emperor's  statue,  which  crowned 
the  porphyry  column,  and  that  there  was  no  malady 
which  could  not  be  driven  away  by  simply  touching 
these  monuments.  Such  events  can  only  be  described 
as  superstitious,  and  as  things  which  never  happened. 
They  are  the  merest  monkish  inventions." 

We  have  quoted  the  above  at  length  because  it  is 
typical  of  a  certain  kind  of  Protestant  polemic,  in  the 
imputation  it  makes  of  unworthy  motives,  in  its  in- 
sinuation of  the  spuriousness  of  a  text  to  which  it 
objects,  and  in  its  very  adroitness  in  confusing  the 
issues.  The  matter  in  question  is  the  value  of  the 
recollections  of  Ambrose,  the  friend  of  the  emperor 
Theodosius,  but  instead  of  a  direct  attack  on  them  we 
only  find  an  allusion  to  Nicephorus  Callistus,  a 
fourteenth-century  Byzantine  monk,  who  makes  no 
pretence  of  being  a  sober  historian,  and  who,  more- 
over, wrote  a  thousand  years  after  the  finding  of  the 
Cross.^ 

1  Similar  destructive  criticism  of  the  story  of  St.  Helena  was 


228      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

The  conclusion  of  the  Magdeburg  writers  naturally- 
met  with  opposition  in  the  Catholic  camp,  and  among 
those  who  resisted  their  opinions  we  may  mention 
Baronius,^  Gretser,-  Le  Nain  de  Tillemont,^  Benedict 
XI  v., ^  and  Father  Zaccaria. 

AVhen  in  1844  the  Holy  Coat  was  exhibited  to  the 
faithful  at  Treves,  an  occasion  was  afforded  for  a 
renewal  of  the  controversy  in  Germany,  the  two  prin- 
cipal opponents  being  von  Sybel  and  Gildemeister. 
Kraus,  who  undertook  the  defence  of  the  traditional 
side,  reproaches  both  his  adversaries  with  a  lack  of 
objectivity  and  impartiality.'  Still  more  recently,  in 
1878,  Fuldain  his  work  on  the  Cross  and  Crucifixion" 
had  a  passing  tilt  at  the  tradition  of  the  finding  of  the 
Cross,  but,  says  Martin,  his  arguments  consisted  of 
little  more  than  a  few  rather  heavy  jokes  on  the  wood 
of  the  Cross." 

The  last  writers  who  have  dealt  with  the  subject 
are  Tixeront  and  F.  Martin ;  of  these  the  first  is 
inclined  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the  story,  whilst  the 
latter  unhesitatingly  accepts  it  as  correct.- 

•75"  TT  TT  TV  Tt* 

The  objection  of  modern  opponents  of  the  tradition 
takes  three  forms  :  some  prefer  to  argue  that  the  Cross 

undertaken  by  two  other  old  writers  of  the  Protestant  school : 
Salmasius,  De  Cruce,  and  Kipping,  De  Cruce. 

1  Annals,  an.  326,  Nos.  YZ-5-\'. 

-'  De  Cruce  Chrisli.     Ingoldstadt,  I6OO. 

^  Memoires,  vii.  16.03. 

*  De  Festis  Doinmicis,  L.  i.  c.  xiv. 

^  BeitrJige  zur  Trierschen  Archaologie,  1868,  p.  49. 

•^  Fulda,  Das  Kreuz  und  die  Kreuzigung,  Breslau,  1878,  pp.  244- 
276. 

^  Martin,  Arch,  de  la  Pass.  p.  260. 

s  Tixeront,  Les  origines  de  l'  Eglise  d'  Edesse  et  la  legende  d'Abgar, 
Paris:  Maisonneuve,  1888,  p.  \6S  ff.  ;  Martin,  Arch,  de  la  Passion, 
Paris:  Lethielleux,  19OI,  p.  260. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE    STORY        220 

was  found  previously  to  327,  others  that  the  Cross 
found  was  an  imitation  pahned  off  on  Helena  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  others  again  that  the  whole 
story  is  a  legend  which  grew  up  about  the  year  380. 
We  shall  consider  separately  each  of  these  objections. 

One  point  on  which  modern  criticism  had  improved 
on  previous  efforts  is  in  its  attempt  to  shift  back  the 
date  of  the  finding  to  the  first  century  of  the  Christian 
era.  In  1876  G.  Phillips  published  a  Syriac  manu- 
script entitled  the  Doctrine  of  Added  the  Apostle  in 
which  the  finding  is  ascribed  to  Protonice,  the  wife  of 
the  Emperor  Claudius.^  The  English  editor  admits 
that  the  ignorance  of  the  copyists  has  given  rise  to 
impudent  interpolations,  and  consequently,  in  view  of 
this  admission,  the  conclusion  to  which  he  comes  is 
rather  surprising.  He  states  that  there  can  be  no 
manner  of  doubt  that  one  story  gave  rise  to  the  other, 
and  as  that  of  Protonice  has  the  advantage  of  being 
the  earlier,  the  story  of  St.  Helena  having  found  the 
Cross  can  only  be  considered  as  a  repetition  of  the 
Eastern  legend.^ 

Of  course,  we  too  admit  that  one  story  gave  rise  to 
the  other,  but  recollecting  that  the  ignorant  copyist 
actually  relates  of  Protonice  that  she  built  over  the 
holy  place  just  such  a  basilica  as  we  know  Constantine 
to  have  built,  we  see  every  reason  for  reversing  Phillips' 
conclusion,  and  for  stating  that  the  Eastern  tale  is 
merely  an  embellishment  of  the  story  of  St.  Helena.^ 

Phillips  likewise  shows  himself  far  too  rash  in  his 
statement  that  a  feast  of  the  finding  of  the  Cross  was 
kept  at  Jerusalem  before  the  year  327.     All  that  he 

1  The  Doctrine  of  Addai  the  Apostle  in  original  Syriac,  with  translation 
and  notes.     Edited  by  George  Phillips.     London  :  Triibner,  1876. 

2  Op  cit.  p.  viii.  note. 

^  Tixeront,  op.  cit.  p.  177. 


230      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

gives  us  by  way  of  proof  for  this  statement  is  an 
extract  from  an  ancient  calendar  ascribed  to  St. 
Isaac,  the  great-grandson  of  St.  Gregory  the  Illumin- 
ator, who  was  patriarch  of  Armenia  from  389  to  439 — 
i.e.  more  than  fifty  years  after  the  death  of  St.  Helena.^ 

Tixeront,  who  inclines  indeed  to  Phillips'  view,  is 
more  cautious  in  his  selection  of  an  argument.^  He 
opines  that  "  the  words  used  by  St.  Cyril,  unless 
we  are  to  consider  them  as  greatly  exaggerated,  pre- 
suppose that  the  True  Cross  was  kept  at  Jerusalem 
before  a.d.  326."  He  then  infers  that  "  the  relic  may 
have  existed,  doubted  by  some,  and  neglected  by  all, 
long  before  the  time  commonly  assigned  to  its 
finding,"  though  he  does  not  venture  so  far  as  to 
state  that  this  really  was  the  case. 

But  when  we  come  to  examine  in  detail,  as  we  shall 
immediately,  St.  Cyril's  texts  in  the  Catechcses,  we 
find  that,  far  from  presupposing  that  the  finding  had 
occurred  long  before,  the  writer  expresses  his  astonish- 
ment that  the  fragments  of  the  Cross  should  have 
so  soon  spread  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  His 
words  consequently  are  quite  consonant  with  the 
tradition  which  places  the  finding  of  the  Cross  some 
twenty  years  before  the  time  when  Cyril  wrote ;  in 
fact,  the  supposition  that  the  Cross  was  found  before 
St.  Helena's  time  is  based  on  no  texts.  Whatever 
view  we  adopt,  this  much  is  evident :  since  the  Cross 
was  originally  hidden  away  by  the  Jews,  it  must  have 
been  found  by  somebody  ;  and  as  to  the  person  of  the 
finder,  this  would   be  more  easily  ascertained  by  a 

1  Toupin,  Hist,  de  S.  Ilclaie,  vol.  ii.  p.  327,  note  E.  [The 
wording  of  the  calendar  for  17th  May  is  :  "  Feast  of  the  Finding  of 
the  Cross.  See  in  the  letter  of  Abgar :  Petronice,  and  read  it." — 
Trans. ^ 

"  Op.  cit.  p.  175. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        231 

fourth-century  writer  than  by  a  worker  at  the  present 
day. 

We  must  also  point  out  that  Phillips'  view  makes 
no  account  of  the  monuments  at  Jerusalem.  We 
are  told  that  the  crosses  were  found  in  a  cavern  near 
to  Calvary ;  the  tradition  to  this  effect  begins  with 
the  erection  of  Constantine's  basilica  between  327 
and  331,  and  since  then  it  has  not  changed ;  we  find 
it  in  the  narrations  of  all  the  pilgrims  who  visited 
the  Holy  Places,  in  Theodosius,^  Antoninus  Martyr,^ 
Arculfus,^  Venerable  Bede,*  St.  Willibald^  and  the 
monk  St.  Bernard.'' 

The  Holy  Places  had  been  buried  by  Adrian  be- 
neath twenty  feet  of  solid  masonry  to  form  an 
esplanade,  on  which  stood  statues  of  Jupiter  and 
Venus.  On  this  point  St.  Jerome  is  quite  clear.'' 
Arculfus  is  equally  to  the  point  when  he  writes  in 
670 :  "  It  was  in  this  place,  excavated  by  the  hand  of 
man,  that  it  is  said  the  Cross  of  the  Saviour  and  the 
crosses  of  the  two  thieves  were  hidden  and  covered 
with  earth,  and  after  a  cycle  of  two  hundred  and 
thirty-three  years  were  by  God's  grace  again  brought 
to  light."  ^  The  cavern  in  which  the  crosses  had  been 
cast,  for  more  than  two  centuries  was  buried  beneath 
a  huge  embankment,  which  was  only  demolished  in 
327  ^ ;  hence  Christ's  Cross  cannot  possibly  have  been 
found  before  that  time. 

^  De  Terra  Sancta,  iv. ;  To  bier,  64. 

-  Perambulatio  locorum  Sanctorum,  xx. ;  Tobler,  102. 

^  Relatio  de  locis  Sanctis,  vii. ;  Tobler,  151. 

^  De  locis  Sanctis,  ii.  ;  Tobler,  21 6. 

•">  Hodceponcum,  xviii.  ;  Tobler  and  Molinier,  263. 

6  Itinerarium,  xi. ;  Tobler  and  Molinier,  314. 

7  Second  letter  to  St.  Paulinus. 

8  Tobler,  151. 

9  See  above,,  p.  72. 


232      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

There  is  another  point  to  bear  in  mind :  Helena 
bore  a  letter  of  Constantine's  addressed  to  Macarius 
commanding  him  to  build  over  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
"  a  church  which  would  be  the  largest  and  the  finest 
in  the  world."  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  event 
only  a  crypt  was  erected  over  the  sepulchre,  the 
basilica  being  built  right  over  the  cavern  of  the 
finding.  How,  then,  can  we  explain  this  change  in 
the  plans  except  by  admitting  the  occurrence  of  an 
unforeseen  event,  which  was  the  finding  of  the  Cross  ? 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  objection  raised  by 
those  who  consider  that  the  finding  was  an  imposture. 
Duruy,  in  his  Histoire  des  Romains,^  appears  to 
question  the  authenticity  even  of  the  Holy  Places. 
He  writes ;  "  When  St.  Helena  asked  to  be  shown 
the  spot  where  Christ  had  been  buried  no  one  was 
able  to  do  so  ;  the  bishop  himself  was  ignorant  of  the 
position  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  For  three  centuries 
the  surroundings  had  been  constantly  altered,  both 
by  war  and  by  peace.  Buildings  had  been  erected 
and  then  destroyed,  and  neither  Jew  nor  Christian, 
for  both  had  been  banished  by  Adrian,  knew  where 
the  Passion  had  occurred.  Houses  were  demolished 
on  Calvary,  and  excavations  were  made,  but  all  to  no 
purpose.  But  Helena  willed  that  the  cavern  should 
be  found,  and  accordingly  it  was  discovered  under 
the  temple  of  Venus,  and  near  by  were  found  also 
the  three  wooden  crosses.  The  undertaking  had  been 
supervised  by  a  clever  Jew,  who  gave  out  that  he 
had  in  his  possession  family  documents  describing 
the  spots  which  had  witnessed  the  Passion."  In 
other  words,  we  are  to  believe  that  a  trick  was  played 
on  Helena  similar  to  those  by  which  inexperienced 
travellers  are  so  often  victimised,  when  coins  which 

1  Vol.  vii,  p.  144 /. 


OBJECTIONS   TO    THE    STORY        233 

have  been  previously  hid  in  the  soil  are  dug  out  and 
palmed  off  on  them  as  genuine  antiques. 

But  it  was  not  to  gratify  Helena's  wish  that  the 
esplanade  was  demolished  and  a  hill  and  a  cave 
respectively  dubbed  "  Calvary "  and  the  "  Holy 
Sepulchre " ;  there  was  not  even  any  need  of  the 
ubiquitous  Jew.  At  Jerusalem  everybody  was  aware 
that  Adrian  had  placed  a  statue  of  Jupiter  over  the 
sepulchre  and  one  of  Venus  over  Calvary.^  So  well 
were  the  localities  known  that  prior  to  the  under- 
taking Constantine  ordered  Macarius  to  demolish  the 
esplanade  and  construct  a  basilica  above  the  Holy 
Sepulchre. 

Had  those  who  incline  to  such  views  taken  pains 
to  study  impartially  the  different  sides  of  the  question, 
they  would  have  seen  that  any  hoax  was  impossible 
under  the  circumstances.  Three  heavy  crosses,  each 
some  twelve  feet  in  height,  could  not  be  introduced 
unseen  into  the  cavern,  where  the  legionaries  and 
workmen  were  digging ;  moreover,  the  crosses  were 
found  at  the  bottom  of  a  pit,  to  which  there  was  but 
a  single  entrance,  at  which  Helena  and  Macarius 
watched  in  turns. 

What  Duruy  only  insinuates  Gildemeister  ex- 
plicitly asserts ;  his  view,  according  to  Martin,^  is 
that  "the  pilgrims'  intense  desire  of  seeing  in  detail 
all  the  spots  mentioned  in  the  Bible  soon  made  it 
necessary  to  paint  the  scenery  and  discover  relics  of 
each  event.  So  credulous  were  the  visitors  of  those 
times  that,  like  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim,  they  swallowed 

^  [This  statement  is  apparently  made  by  the  author  on  Jerome's 
authority ;  it  is  not  in  agreement  with  Eusebius  or  Theophanes, 
who  only  speak  of  Venus's  statue,  and  locate  it  over  the  Sepulchre. 
See  references  above,  pp.  72-73. — Tra7is.^ 

-  Arch,  de  la  Pass.  p.  286. 


234      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

every  story,  no  matter  how  tall.  At  the  time  of  St. 
Helena  the  only  sacred  spots  shown  were  those  of 
the  Ascension  and  of  the  birth  of  our  I^ord  at 
Bethlehem.  Soon,  however,  the  list  became  longer ; 
the  task  of  finding  the  True  Cross  presented  certainly 
no  greater  difficulty  than  that  of  finding  the  stone 
which  the  builders  had  rejected."  Martin,  however, 
rightly  remarks  on  the  above,  that  "the  author  of 
this  ingenious  explanation  follows  rather  too  closely 
in  the  steps  of  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim,  at  whom  all  the 
time  he  is  poking  fun,  for  he,  like  the  latter,  fails  to 
make  the  necessary  distinction  between  evidently 
stupid  relics  and  others  which  have  at  least  a  great  deal 
to  be  said  in  their  favour.  His  manner  of  proceed- 
ing is  unscientific,  and  consequently  inconclusive."^ 

The  views  of  the  Magdeburg  Centuriators  have 
recently  been  restated  in  better  scientific  form.  By 
M.  Paul  Lejay  they  are  expressed  as  follows " : — "  The 
finding  of  the  Cross  was  unknown  until  the  latter 
end  of  the  fourth  century.  The  pseudo-Silvia,  some- 
where between  381  and  389,  was  the  first  to  speak 
of  it  in  connection  with  Constantine's  basilica.  St. 
Ambrose  in  395,  and  St.  John  Chrysostom  about  398, 
allude  to  St.  Helena,  and  speak  of  the  Cross  as  having 
been  recognised  by  the  Title  fixed  to  it ;  Rufinus 
about  the  year  400,  and  Socrates  about  439,  sub- 
stitute for  the  Title  the  cure  of  a  Jerusalem  lady ; 
St.  Paulinus  of  Nola  about  403,  and  Sulpicius  Severus, 
speak  of  the  help  afforded  by  the  Jews  to  St.  Helena, 

^  [Among  the  objects  venerated  as  relics  there  are  undoubtedly 
many  which  cannot  be  considered  as  authentic.  But  of  devotion 
exhibited  to  relics,  true  or  spurious,  we  may  say  what  is  said  of 
the  worship  of  sacred  pictures,  that  all  such  worship  is  directed 
to  the  Saint  of  whom  the  object  sets  us  in  mind.  Papebroch,  in 
Willems,  op.  cit.  p.  8,  and  Martin,  op.  cit.  p.  373. — Trans.'\ 

2  Revue  crilique  d'hisloire  el  de  littcrature,  1890,  ii.  l63. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        235 

and  substitute  the  raising  of  a  dead  man  for  the  cure 
of  the  sick  lady ;  lastly,  in  Sozomen,  about  443,  we 
find  the  first  traces  of  the  Judas-Cyriacus  tradition." 

These  successive  embellishments  are  the  results  of 
a  legend  which  arose  in  Edessa.  "  It  is  evident," 
concludes  M.  Tixeront,  "  that  the  story  of  Helena 
grew  up  in  the  East  during  the  last  twenty  years  of 
the  fourth  century.  In  379  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa  as 
yet  knew  nothing  of  it.  In  400  it  had  already  left 
the  surroundings  in  which  it  had  been  evolved,  and 
quickly  spread  over  both  East  and  West ;  in  Meso- 
potamia it  first  gave  rise  to  the  Protonice  legend,  and 
a  little  later,  on  the  advent  from  Jerusalem  of  a  story 
touching  a  certain  Cyriacus,  bishop  of  that  city,  it 
resulted  in  the  new  Judas-Cyriacus  legend.  This 
new  legend  had  just  returned  to  its  birthplace  at  the 
time  when  Sozomen  wrote.  As  to  the  verity  of  all 
these  facts,  the  silence  of  Eusebius,  a  contemporary 
and  probably  a  witness,  tells  strongly  against  it."^ 

Our  own  view  is  that  if  the  texts  quoted  by  M. 
Lejay  be  classed,  not  according  to  their  date  of 
publication,  but  according  to  the  time  when  their 
writers  received  their  information,  the  result  would 
be  entirely  different.  We  shall  endeavour  to  do  this 
further  on,'^  but  it  is  important  that  we  should  first 
deal  with  the  curious  silence  preserved  on  the  subject 
by  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim  and  by  Eusebius. 

The  finding  of  the  Cross  must  have  been  the  great 
event  of  the  time.  Hence  if  it  really  occurred  in  327, 
how  could  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim  have  visited  Jeru- 
salem in  333  without  even  alluding  to  it  ? 

Critics  rightly  attach  little  importance  to  the 
silence  of  this  anonymous  writer ;  in  fact,  the  Itiner- 

1  Tixeront,  Origines  de  l' J^glise  d'£desse,  pp.  174-175. 
^  See  below,  p.  249. 


236      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

ary  from  Bo7^demix  to  Jerusalem  ^  is  a  work  of 
doubtful  value.  It  comprises  only  a  few  pages  con- 
veying summary  descriptions  of  the  Holy  Places,  the 
rest  of  the  Itinerary  consisting  merely  of  measure- 
ments of  the  distances  between  the  places  mentioned. 
The  pilgrim  was  anything  but  observant ;  he  de- 
scribes Jerusalem  as  a  ruined  city,  and  has  nothing 
whatever  to  say  of  ^Elia  Capitolina  and  its  grand 
buildings ;  ^  he  evidently  swallowed  every  tale  that 
people  told  him  ;  he  saw  the  stone  which  the  builders 
had  rejected,  and  which  had  become  the  corner-stone  ; 
he  saw  on  the  ground  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  which 
had  been  shed  between  the  temple  and  the  altar  ;  also 
the  fountain  of  Siloe,  which  only  ran  on  week-days.^ 
He  states  that  he  ascended  Sion,  and  that  he  there 
saw  the  ruins  of  the  palace  of  Caiphas,  and  yet  he 
says  not  a  word  of  the  Coenaculum. 

A  pilgrim  who  omits  even  to  mention  such  a  spot 
as  the  last  can  surely  have  forgotten  anything ;  and, 
in  fact,  in  this  omission  we  find  perhaps  the  reason  of 
his  silence  concerning  the  Cross.*  The  fragment  of 
the  True  Cross  which  was  left  with  Macarius  was  no 
doubt  ultimately  deposited  in  a  chapel  specially  built 
for  the  purpose  below  the  rock  of  Calvary ;  ^  but  at 
the  time  of  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim's  visit  Constantine's 
basilica  was  not  yet  finished,^'  and  in  the  meantime  the 
relic  was  doubtless  preserved  in  the  Coenaculum  or  in 
the  parish  church — i.e.  in  some  building  not  visited  by 
the   pilgrim    in    question.      As    the    relic   was   only 

'  Itinerarium  a  Burdigala  Hienisalein  usque.     Tobler,  and  in   P.L. 
viii.  783/. 

-  Germer-Durand,  ^Aia  Capitolina,  Revue  Biblique,  1892,  p.  369. 
2  Tobler,  17.  *  Tixei'ont,  op  cit.  p.  l64, 

5  Antoninus,  §  20;  Tobler,  102. 
Itinerarium  a  Burdigala.     Tobler,  18. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        237 

shown  on  Good  Friday  it  is  probable  that,  never 
having  seen  it,  the  pilgrim  saw  no  reason  for  speaking 
of  it. 

A  similar  silence  which  must  be  similarly  explained 
is  noticeable  in  the  records  of  other  pilgrims.  The 
pseudo-Silvia  in  385  speaks  of  the  chapel  of  the 
Cross  ^  and  of  the  manner  in  which  the  relic  was 
honoured,  but  neither  Eucherius  in  440,^  nor  the 
Breviarius  de  Hierosolyma^  in  530,  nor  again  Ar- 
culfus  about  670,*  have  a  word  to  say  either  of  the 
chapel  or  of  the  relic,  both  of  which  certainly  were 
there  in  their  time.  We  have  no  right  to  press  the 
silence  of  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim  any  more  than  that 
of  these  other  later  pilgrims. 

The  absence  of  all  reference  in  Eusebius  to  the 
finding  is  at  first  sight  a  more  serious  matter. 
"  Eusebius,  the  Church  historian  and  the  emperor's 
biographer,"  writes  Duruy,^  "  must  have  been  well 
informed  as  to  all  the  details  of  the  enterprise  of  re- 
storing the  Holy  Places  to  the  faithful.  He  does,  in 
fact,  relate  at  length  the  fashion  in  which  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  was  discovered,*^  but  of  the  finding  of  the 
Cross  he  knows  nothing,  yet  he  who  attaches  such 
great  importance  to  the  monogram,  to  the  Labaimm, 
to  the  Cross  painted  on  the  soldiers'  shields,  should 
surely  have  spoken  of  this  discovery,  which  would  in 
some  sense  have  justified  his  enthusiasm  for  the 
power  of  the  signum  salutare  et  vivificum.  He  does 
not  speak  of  it  .  .  .  because  the  legend  in  question 
was  invented  after  his  death,  which  occurred  shortly 

1  [For  details  concerning  this  building  see  L.  de  Combes,  De 
I'lnv.  a  r exalt,  p.  23.] 

^  Tobler,  52.  3  Tobler,  57.  ^  Tobler,  141. 

^  Hist,  des  Romains,  vol.  vii,  pp.  145-146. 
^  Vita  Condantini,  iii.  xxv.  f. 


238      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

after  that  of  Constantine."  Eusebius  is  silent  like- 
wise in  his  account  of  the  dedication  of  the  basilica^ 
and  in  the  sermon  which  he  preached  on  that  occa- 
sion.^ Hence  the  conclusion  that  Eusebius  knew 
nothing  of  the  event. 

But  as  a  Protestant  writer,  Augusti,  has  pointed 
out,^  it  is  critically  incorrect  to  reject  the  tradition 
merely  on  account  of  Eusebius's  silence.  More- 
over, we  do  find  in  Eusebius  a  strong  indirect  argu- 
ment in  favour  of  the  finding  of  the  Cross.  In 
effect,  the  Life  of  Constantine  contains  a  letter  from 
the  emperor  to  Macarius,  which  opens  with  these 
words  * :  "So  great  is  the  grace  of  our  Lord  that 
words  are  powerless  to  recount  the  miracle  which  fms 
happened.  For  to  have  discovei'ed  the  monument  of 
the  most  holy  Passion  which  had  been  so  long  concealed 
in  the  earth,  to  preserve  it  from  the  common  enemy, 
and  to  have  restored  it  to  light  that  it  might  shine 
before  the  faitfful,  this  indeed  is  a  surpassing  wonder." 
Now  fourth-century  religious  writers  make  frequent 
use  of  two  technical  expressions,  which  though  some- 
what similar  denote  two  different  things,  these  are 
monumentum  resurrectionis  and  monumentum  passionis; 
the  first  refers  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  the  second 
to  the  Cross.  Hence  Eusebius  or  Constantine  does 
speak  of  the  finding  of  the  Cross,  and  describes  it  as 
a  miracle.^ 

Tixeront  indeed  argues  that  the  expression  Monu- 
ment of  the  Passion  may  refer  either  to  the  Cross  or 
to  the  Tomb,  and  that  more  probably  it  refers  to  the 

^  Vita  Cons  tail  tin  i,  iv.  43. 

-  De  laudibus  Constantini,  ix.  l6;  x.  If.;  P.G.  xx.  1372. 

3  Handbuch  der  Christlichen  Archaologie,  iii.  56.5. 

*  iii.  c.  XXX.  ;  P.G.  xx.  1090. 

°  Benedict.  XIV.,  Dejestis  dominicis,  L.  i.  c.  xiv.  notes  10-12. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        239 

latter,  because  if  the  True  Cross  had  really  been 
found,  it  is  odd  that  the  emperor  does  not  speak  of  it 
more  clearly.^ 

But  the  view  of  this  scholar  is  open  to  serious 
objections.  Constantine's  letter  speaks  of  the  miracle 
which  has  happened — i.e.  of  something  both  wonderful 
and  unexpected.  Now  everybody  knew  that  Adrian 
had  buried  the  Holy  Sepulchre  beneath  a  temple  of 
Jupiter,  and  the  demolishing  of  the  esplanade  could 
by  no  stretch  of  imagination  be  described  as  a  miracle. 
Hence  the  writer  of  the  letter  is  speaking  not  of  the 
tomb,  but  of  an  object  which,  as  he  himself  states, 
had  been  long  concealed  in  the  earth  to  preserve  it 
from  the  common  enemy.  Constantine  shared  the 
error  of  those  who  believed  that  the  Cross  had  been 
buried  by  the  disciples  to  screen  it  from  profanation. 
His  allusion  to  a  sacred  object  which  was  concealed 
by  the  faithful  can  apply  neither  to  the  sepulchre  nor 
to  Calvary,  but  only  to  the  Cross,  which,  in  the 
language  of  the  time,  was  the  real  Monument  of  the 
Passion. 

The  only  difficulty  in  our  interpretation  of  this 
letter  is  caused  by  a  statement  of  Theodoret,  who 
says  that  St.  Helena  was  the  bearer  of  the  letter  to 
Macarius.  Were  this  the  case,  Constantine  could 
not  have  been  speaking  of  the  Cross,  which  was  only 
discovered  subsequently  to  Helena's  arrival.  Fortun- 
ately, there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Theodoret, 
who  was  only  a  compiler,  in  this  particular  was  guilty 
of  a  slight  mistake  ;  if  we  examine  the  letter  in  detail 
we  can  easily  see  that  it  was  written  after  the  demolition 
of  the  esplanade. 

We  have  not  yet  suggested  a  motive  for  the  silence 
of  Eusebius  in  his  historical  works,  but  this  motive 

*  Origines  de  I'Eglise  d'J^desse,  p.  l63,  note  1. 


240      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

is  easily  found.  Eusebius  of  Ca^sarea  was  a  prelate 
of  questionable  orthodoxy ;  as  a  semi-Arian  he  had 
little  sympathy  with  Helena,  and,  after  her  death,  he 
was  one  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  Arian  revival  and 
of  the  religious  scandals  which  spoilt  the  end  of 
Constantine's  reign. 

On  the  matter  of  relics  especially  his  views  disagreed 
with  those  of  the  Church.  Kraus  has  shown  this  very 
clearly,  and  his  dissertation  on  the  subject  has  been 
well  summarised  by  F.  Martin  ^ :  "  Eusebius  tells  us 
that  in  his  time  there  was  to  be  seen  at  Paneas  ^  a 
statue  of  Christ,  which  was  commonly  stated  to  have 
been  erected  by  the  woman  whom  our  Lord  had  cured 
of  an  issue  of  blood.^  Eusebius  observes  that  in  this 
there  was  nothing  very  remarkable,  for  the  Gentiles 
were  accustomed  thus  to  honour  all  their  benefactors, 
and  that  there  are  medals  in  plenty  engraved  with 
the  image  of  St.  Peter,  of  St.  Paul,  and  of  Christ 
Himself.  These  remarks  of  Eusebius  show  that  he 
considered  the  Paneas  statue,  and  generally  all  images, 
as  mere  survivals  of  paganism.*  We  find  an  even 
more  striking  instance  of  Eusebius's  antipathy  to 
relics  and  sacred  images  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to 
Constantia,  Constantine's  sister.^  The  princess  had 
requested  of  him  a  portrait  of  Christ.  The  bishop 
replies  by  asking  her  which  portrait  she  wishes — that 
of  the  unspotted  Godhead  of  the  Saviour  or  that  of 
His  human  form.  It  is  impossible,  he  adds,  to  portray 
the  Saviour  under  either  of  these  aspects,  because,  on 
the  one  hand,  we  do  not  know  the  divine  nature  of 
the  Son,  which  is  known  to  the  Father  alone,  nor, 

^  Arch,  de  la  Pass.  p.  293  f.  ^  Caesarea-Philippi. 

2  Eus.  Hist.  eccl.  vii.  18.  *  eOviKij  a-wi^ddf}.. 

'"  This  letter  is  to  be  found  in  the  acts  of  the  second  Nicene 
Council.     Apparently  it  is  authentic. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        241 

on  the  other  hand,  do  we,  according  to  St.  Paul, 
know  Christ  in  the  flesh.  He  also  states  that  he 
had  deprived  a  woman  of  her  portraits  of  Christ  and 
of  St.  Paul,  because,  as  he  says,  it  did  not  seem  meet 
that  strangers  \_i.e.  pagans]  should  see  such  images, 
lest  they  might  accuse  us  of  treating  our  God  as 
an  idol.  Can  we  wonder  then  that  the  Byzantine 
historian  Gregoras  should  have  called  Eusebius  an 
iconoclast  ? "  ^ 

Martin  continues  :  "  Such  a  tendency  is  in  singular 
contrast  with  the  blind  credulity  of  most  of  the 
Christians  of  that  time,  of  which  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim 
is  a  good  instance  in  point ;  we  have  here  the  two 
extremes,  and  we  can  also  understand  why  Eusebius 
kept  silence  on  a  matter  concerning  which  he  could 
not  have  ventilated  his  views  without  giving  offence  at 
court  and  to  his  brother  bishops.  It  is  quite  evident 
that  he  suppressed  much  of  what  he  knew.  Thus 
when  he  describes  Constantine's  triumphal  reception 
at  Rome,  he  says  nothing  of  the  statue  which  was 
erected  in  his  honour  by  the  Senate.  Another  point 
on  which  he  is  silent  is  as  to  the  attitude  of  St.  Helena 
with  respect  to  Arianism."  ^ 

Eusebius  no  doubt  intended  his  silence  as  a  dis- 
approval of  Helena's  undertaking,  and  of  the  worship 
of  the  Cross,  which  he  considered  as  idolatrous.  We 
may  well  expect  such  disapproval  from  a  bishop  who 
was  accustomed  to  spend  his  leisure  hours  hunting 
out  and  confiscating  pictures  of  Christ. 

There  is  one  point,  too,  which  is  closely  connected 
with  Eusebius's  narrative,  and  which  cannot  otherwise 
be  explained  than  by  the  Cross  having  been  found  by 
St.  Helena.     Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  St. 

^    eiKoi'o/xaKos.      Hist.  Byzatit.  xix.  3. 

2  Cp.  Kraus,  Beitrage  zur  Trier schen  Archaologie,  p.  72  ^' 

Q 


242      THE   FINDING   OF   THE    CROSS 

Helena  in  327  had  accomplished  nothing  more  than 
the  unearthing  of  the  sepulchre — how  then  did  it 
come  about  that  in  the  following  year,  328,  Constantine 
laid  the  foundation  at  Rome  of  a  basilica  called  by 
the  name  of  the  "  Holy-Cross-in-Jerusalem,"  and 
placed  in  it  a  fragment  of  the  same  True  Cross  ?  ^ 
The  building  was  erected  on  land  which  had  belonged 
to  the  empress,  and  the  work  was  proceeded  with  so 
rapidly  that  a  year  later  the  new  church  was  being 
consecrated  by  Silvester ;  it  is  also  noteworthy  that 
the  new  church  from  the  beginning  was  known  as 
the  "Helenian  basilica,"^  a  name  which  it  is  difficult 
to  account  for  if  she  had  no  connection  with  the 
finding  of  the  Cross.^ 

We  will  now  consider  the  testimonies  of  certain 
other  writers ;  in  the  first  instance  that  of  St.  Cyril. 
St.  Cyril  was  born  at  Jerusalem  in  315,  was  ordained 
priest  by  Macarius  in  345,  and  then  given  charge  of 
the  catechumens.  His  teaching  or  Catccheses  seems 
to  have  been  given  to  the  public  some  two  years 
later,  and  in  it  we  find  three  distinct  allusions  to  the 
wood  of  the  Cross.  Thus,  speaking  in  the  Atrium  at 
the  foot  of  Calvary,*  he  exclaims : 

"  There  He  was  crucified,  for  our  sins.  If  you  doubt  it  be  con- 
vinced by  this  place,  this  blessed  Golgotha — in  which  we  are  even 
now  assembled  to  worship  Him  who  was  here  attached  to  the  Cross 
— and  by  the  wood  of  the  Cross,  of  which  fragments  without  number 
have  already  been  carried  throughout  the  world."  ^ 

1  Anastasius,  Savctus  Silvester,  c.  xli. ;  P.L.  cxxvii.  1521. 

2  See  above,  p.  1 69. 

3  [It  is  only  right  to  point  out  that  this  name  of  the  basilica  may 
have  arisen  from  the  fact  that  it  was  built  on  what  had  been 
St,  Helena's  property.  There  are  several  instances  in  Rome  of 
cemeteries  e.g.  being  named  after  their  donors. — Tratis.] 

•*  Dom  Cabrol,  Les  Egli.<te.'!  dc  Jrru.snlem  au  IF"  .siecle,  p.  \50Jf. 
'  Catecheses  de  Cruce ;  P.O.  xxxiii.  467 ^i 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        243 

In  another  passage  he  speaks  of  the  "  wood  of  the 
Cross  which  is  seen  here  among  us  even  to  the  present 
day,  and  which,  thanks  to  the  faith  of  those  who  carry 
away  fragments  of  it,  is  already  to  be  found  through- 
out the  world."  ^  Further  on  he  again  returns  to  the 
same  subject  in  the  following  words: — "Were  I 
tempted  to  deny,  may  I  be  confounded  by  Golgotha, 
near  which  we  are  assembled,  and  by  that  wood  of 
the  Cross,  of  which  the  fragments  taken  from  this 
place  have  already  found  their  way  to  every  part  of 
the  world."  ^ 

But  we  have  an  even  stronger  testimony  of  St.  Cyril's 
to  the  same  effect.  After  his  appointment  to  the  See 
of  Jerusalem,  St.  Cyril  is  said  to  have  written  as  follows 
to  the  Emperor  Constantius  : — 

''  Under  the  reign  of  Constantine  thy  father,  beloved  of  God  and 
of  blessed  memory^  the  sahitary  wood  of  the  Cross  was  found  at 
Jerusalem,  and  divine  goodness  bestowed  on  that  God-fearing 
emperor  the  consolation  of  finding  the  Holy  Places,  which  before 
had  been  buried,"  ^ 

This  testimony  seems  decisive,  for  here  we  find  an 
inhabitant  of  Jerusalem,  who  in  327  must  have  been 
already  eleven  years  of  age,  recalling  to  one  of 
Helena's  grandsons  the  fact  that  his  father  and  his 
grandmother  had  been  instrumental  in  recovering  the 
True  Cross. 

Unfortunately,  it  is  objected  that  this  letter,  though 
a  plausible  case  may  be  made  out  for  its  authenticity, 
is  not  altogether  free  from  difficulties,  and  that,  its 
origin  being  doubtful,  we  cannot  make  use  of  it  as 
an  authoritative  document.*     But  for  our  own  part 

^  Calecheses  de  uno  Dom.  J.  C ;  P.  G.  xxxiii.  686. 

2  Catecheses,  De  Christo  crucif. ;  P.G.  xxxiii.  775. 

3  Ep.  ad  Constantium  ;  P.G.  xxxiii.  1167. 
*  Tixeront,  op.  cil.  p.  l65. 


244      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

we  can  see  no  reason  against  its  authenticity  save 
those  due  to  reHgious  prejudice.  The  object  of  the 
letter  in  question  was  to  inform  Constantius  of  the 
recent  appearance  in  the  skies  of  a  fiery  cross  which 
had  been  seen  by  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem. 
Oudin  and  Rivet  argue  that  the  letter  must  be 
apocryphal,  since  St.  Cyril  in  his  Catecheses,  when 
commenting  on  St.  INIatthew,  had  declared  that  the 
sign  of  the  Son  of  Man  would  only  appear  at  the 
end  of  the  world.  But  it  is  difficult  to  understand 
this  argument ;  the  question  is  not  what  Cyril  be- 
lieved at  the  time  when  he  published  his  CatecheseSy 
but  whether  there  had  since  occurred  some  remark- 
able meteorological  manifestation.  That  something 
of  the  kind  had  taken  place  seems  certain,  the  only 
question  debated  being  that  of  its  date,  which  ac- 
cording to  the  Bollandists  was  in  356,  whereas  ac- 
cording to  Baronius  it  was  in  353,  and  according  to 
Tillemont  in  351.  Doubtless  the  phenomenon  had 
been  exaggerated,  but  this  was  no  reason  to  prevent 
the  bishop  from  informing  Constantius  of  the  event. 

Two  other  arguments  advanced  by  Rivet  and 
Oudin  are  not  much  stronger  than  the  last.  They 
contend  that  such  a  staunch  defender  of  orthodoxy  as 
Cyril  could  scarcely  have  sent  an  Arian,  such  as 
Constantius  was,  a  letter  full  of  flattery,  and,  more- 
over, that  the  letter  contains  an  expression,  consub- 
sfcuitial,  applied  to  the  Trinity,  which  is  never  used 
by  Cyril 

Dom  Touttee  ^  wrote  a  long  dissertation  in  answer 
to  these  objections  and  in  defence  of  the  letter ;  but 
as  the  arguments  of  the  writers  just  alluded  to  have 
gone  out  of  fashion,  there  is  now  no  reason  why  we 
should  linger  over  them.  As  Kraus  says,  everybody 
^P.G.  xxxiii.  1153^: 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE    STORY        245 

now  agrees  that  the  letter  is  genuine,  even  Gilde- 
meister,  who  confines  himself  to  impugning  Cyril's 
good  faith.  ^ 

We  may  now  consider  another  series  of  arguments, 
all  of  which  seem  favourable  to  the  tradition  which 
holds  that  the  Cross  was  found  in  327  :  we  shall  begin 
with  the  earliest.  Letaille  and  Audollent,  when  on  a 
scientific  expedition  to  Algeria  in  1889,  found  at 
Tixter,  near  Setif,  a  Christian  inscription  in  honour 
of  the  martyr  Victorinus.^  M.  GeofFroy,  head  of  the 
J^colc  fraiifuise  at  Rome  thus  described  the  find : 
"  The  inscription  informs  us  that  the  chapel  at  Tixter 
contained  relics  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  and  also 
of  several  African  martyrs,  among  whom  was  St. 
Cyprian.  In  the  chapel  there  was  also  kept  some 
earth  from  Bethlehem  atid  a  fragment  of  the  T?^ue 
Cross.  M.  Audollent  has  proved  that  the  inscription 
is  in  perfect  conformity  with  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers.  The  fact  of  the  Cross  having  been  wor- 
shipped in  Mauritania  in  359  (this  is  the  date  of  the 
inscription)  confirms  the  truth  of  what  St.  Cyril  of 
Jerusalem  says  in  347  in  his  Catecheses  concerning 
the  wide  distribution  of  the  relic  ;  it  also  confirms  the 
account  of  St.  Helena's  having  found  the  Cross  in 
326,  an  account  which  is  likewise  corroborated  by 
the  narrative  of  St.  Silvia,  who  visited  Jerusalem 
in  380."^ 

In  a  discussion  at  the  Academie  des  inscriptions 
which  took  place  23rd  May  1890,  Mgr.  Duchesne 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  M.  GeofFroy  had  some- 
what   exaggerated   the    importance    of    the   Tixter 

1  Martin,  Archeol.  p.  264. 

^Academie  des  inscriptions  et  belles-lettres,  1889  (6th  December,  p, 
417). 

^  Academie,  etc.  1890,  p.  233. 


246      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

inscription  ;  he  observed  that  though  the  inscription 
may  "  prove  the  existence  at  Jerusalem  of  the  True 
Cross  in  359,  it  cannot  be  said  to  confirm  the  accounts 
regarding  the  discovery  of  this  relic  by  the  Empress 
Helena."  ^ 

At  any  rate  the  inscription  shows  that  the  relic 
was  already  widely  distributed  in  359,  and  thus 
makes  unlikely  the  formation  of  a  legend  as  late  as 
380." 

The  next  witness  we  shall  cite  is  the  one  just 
alluded  to,  the  pseudo-Silvia  Aquitana.^  When 
Silvia  reached  Jerusalem,  somewhere  about  the  year 
385,  she  found  that  the  True  Cross  was  already  an 
object  of  worship.  The  relic  was  kept  in  a  special 
chapel  near  the  large  basilica."  Nearly  all  the  services 
concluded  with  a  procession  to  this  chapel,  and  on 
Good  Friday  the  relic  was  publicly  exposed  in  order 
that  it  might  be  kissed  by  the  faithful.  All  this 
presupposes  that  the  finding  had  occurred  a  good 
while  previously,  and  is  easily  explained  on  the 
assumption    that   the   Cross    was    really    found    in 

327. 

For  after  all,  if  the  Cross  was  found  at  all,  it  must 
have  been  found  by  somebody.  Cyril  nowhere  makes 
any  mention  of  the  name  of  the  finder,  doubtless 
because  that  name  was  known  to  all ;  but  Silvia  is 
more  explicit :  she  tells  us  at  least  this  much,  that 
everything  was  done  under  St.  Helena's  supervision  : 

^  Ibid.  1890,  p.  176. 

2  [Our  author  seems  to  be  slightly  at  fault;  legends^  as  a  rule,  are 
invented  to  account  for  things  already  in  existence,  and  not  vice  versa. 
— Trans.] 

^S.  Silvice  Aquilanoe  peregrinatio  ad  loca  sancta,  ed.  Gamurrini. 
Rome:  Cuggiani,  1887. 

^  Antoninus  M.  §  20  ;  Tobler,  102. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        247 

"What  shall  I  say  of  the  decoration  and  of  the  building  itself; 
of  the  greater  church,  of  the  Anastasis,  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Cross, 
and  the  other  holy  places  of  Jerusalem  which  Constantine,  making 
use  of  all  the  resources  of  his  empire,  adorned  with  gold,  and 
mosaic,  and  precious  marbles,  all  under  the  direction  of  his 
mother."  i 

A  little  further  on,  speaking  of  the  enccenia  or 
anniversary  festival  of  the  basilica  which  Constantine 
had  built  over  the  Holy  Places,  she  states  that 

"  the  enccenia  of  these  holy  churches  are  kept  with  great  pomp, 
because  the  Cross  of  the  Lord  was  brought  to  light  upon  that 
same  day.  Everything  was  thus  settled  because,  for  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  holy  church  before  mentioned,  the  very  day  of  the  find- 
ing of  the  Lord's  Cross  had  been  chosen."  ^ 

These  texts  clearly  show  that  the  finding  of  the 
Cross  occurred  before  September  13th,  335,  the  day 
when  the  basilica  was  consecrated.^  In  fact,  the 
finding  must  have  taken  place  even  before  the  laying 
of  the  foundation-stone,  for  Eusebius,  in  spite  of  his 
wilful  silence  on  the  subject,  admits  that  the  basilica 
was  erected  in  honour  of  the  True  Cross.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Cross  cannot  have  been  found  before 
327,  because  until  then  it  was  still  covered  by  the 
esplanade  of  ^Elia  Capitolina.  Since  the  basilica — 
what  Silvia  calls  the  greater  church — was  erected 
over  the  cavern,  since  Helena  supervised  the  work, 
and  since  the  13th  September  335  was  the  anniversary 
of  an  event  which  cannot  have  occurred  before  327,  it 
seems    that   in    Silvia's   mind   the   True   Cross,    St. 

IjSjVw.  peregr.  p.  83.  [As  Helena  apparently  died  soon  after  the 
finding  of  the  Cross,  and  some  years  before  the  completion  of  the 
basilica,  it  would  seem  that  she  can  only  have  been  concerned 
with  the  founding  of  the  basilica. — Trans. ^ 

'^  Silv.  peregr.  p.  108. 

^  Dom  Cabrol,  Les  eglises  de  Jerusalem  au  IV^  siccle,  p.  128. 


248      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Helena,  and  the  building  of  the  churches  form,  as  it 
were,  one  indivisible  whole. ^ 

There  remains  one  author  of  whom  we  have  not 
yet  spoken,  and  that  is  St.  Jerome.  His  testimony 
in  some  sense  compensates  for  Eusebius's  silence,  and 
the  curious  point  about  it  is  that  St.  Jerome  speaks  in 
the  name  of  Eusebius.  Eusebius  wrote  in  Greek  a 
chronicle  which  St.  Jerome  rendered  into  Latin.  In 
this  Latin  translation  we  find  a  sentence  which,  did 
it  really  belong  to  Eusebius,  would  put  a  stop  to  the 
whole  controversy.  The  clause  in  question  runs  as 
follows : — "  Helena,  Constantine's  mother,  being  guided 
by  visions,  discovered  at  Jerusalem  the  most  blessed 
wood  of  the  Cross  to  which  the  world's  Salvation  had 
been  nailed."  ^  However,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the 
Magdeburg  Centuriators  called  the  authenticity  of 
this  passage  into  question  ;  and  their  surmise  has  since 
been  proved  correct,  for  the  Greek  text  of  Eusebius 
contains  no  words  to  this  effect. 

But  though  the  text  does  not  belong  to  Eusebius, 
it  does  belong  to  St.  Jerome,  who  apparently  wished 
to  complete  the  original  work  by  putting  on  record 
the  most  surprising  event  of  the  period.  To  St. 
Jerome  we  are  likewise  indebted  for  other  interesting 
pieces  of  information.  Certain  chroniclers  relate  that 
the  nails  were  found  at  the  same  time  as  the  crosses, 
and  that  the  emperor,  out  of  one  of  them,  had  a  bit 
made  for  his  war-horse.  This  so-called  Holy  Bit 
occupies  an  important  place  in  Church  history.  To 
justify  Constantine's  strange  conduct,  it  was  customary 
to  quote  the  prophet  Zacharias,  who  says :  "  In  that 

^  Qj.  Tixeront,  op.  cit.  p.   l67.     [The  above  argument  would  be 
more  conclusive  were  it  proved  that  the  esplanade  really  covered 
fhp  cavern  which  contained  the  crosses. — Trans.] 
Jerome,  Chron.  an.  321  ;  P.L.  xxvii.  671. 


the 

2 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        249 

day  that  which  is  upon  the  bridle  of  the  horse  shall 
be  holy  to  the  Lord."  ^  St.  Jerome,  angered  at  such 
a  grotesque  interpretation,  in  commenting  on  this 
passage  in  Zacharias,  exclaims :  "  I  have  heard  some- 
thing, no  doubt  suggested  by  piety,  but  all  the  same 
stupid,  to  wit,  that  the  name  Sanctum  Donmii  was 
given  to  the  Nails  of  the  Cross  with  which  Constantine 
Augustus  had  a  bit  made  for  his  horse."  ^ 

We  have  now  to  fulfil  our  promise  made  above, 
and  to  show  the  real  order  in  which  the  explicit 
testimonies,  to  St.  Helena  having  found  the  Cross, 
succeed  each  other — i.e.  we  have  to  show  at  what 
period  each  particular  witness  to  it  gleaned  his  infor- 
mation. As  before  stated,  all  the  witnesses  to  this 
tradition  are  comparatively  late ;  neglecting  those 
writers  whose  testimony  is  too  recent  to  be  of  any 
value,  we  find  that  the  principal  witnesses  are  eight 
in  number,  and  may  be  classed,  according  to  the 
publication  of  their  respective  works,  as  follows : — in 
395  St.  Ambrose's  Oration  on  the  death  of  Theo- 
dosius  ^ ;  a  little  before  398,  a  homily  delivered  at 
Antioch  by  St.  John  Chrysostom  * ;  about  400,  the 
Church  History  of  Rufinus  ^ ;  about  406,  the  letter 
sent  by  Paulinus  of  Nola  to  Sulpicius  Severus  ^ ;  about 
440,  Socrates'  Church  History  ^ ;  about  the  same  date, 
Sozomen's  Church  History  ^ ;  about  450,  the  Church 

1  Zach.  xiv.  20.  The  real  meaning  seems  to  be  that  the  words 
"holy  to  the  Lord"  shall  in  that  day  be  inscribed  on  the  horses' 
bits. 

^  Martin,  op.  cit.  p.  291. 

3  De  ohitu  Theodosii,  Nos.  44-45;  P.L.  xvi.  1399-1402. 

^  Horn.  85  (or  84)  i?i  Joannem;  P.G.  lix.  46l. 

5  H.E.  Lib.  L  c.  vii.-viii. ;  P.L.  xxi.  475-477. 

6  Ep.  XXX.  Nos.  4-5  ;  P.L.  Ixi.  327. 

7  H.E.  L.  L  e.  xvii. ;  P.G.  Ixvii.  118. 

8  H.E.  L.  n.  c.  i. ;  P.G.  Ixvii.  931. 


250      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

History  of  Theodoret  of  Cyr  ^ ;  between  450  and  477 
the  Armenian  History  of  Moses  of  Khorene." 

The  eight  writers  may  be  immediately  reduced  to 
five.  Socrates  merely  copied  Rufinus,  and  Theodoret 
and  Moses  are  simply  compilers.  With  regard  to  the 
remaining  five,  they  may  be  classed  in  three  categories 
according  as  they  represent,  like  St.  Ambrose  and  St. 
John  Chrysostom,  the  Byzantine  version  ;  or  the  Jeru- 
salem tradition,  like  Rufinus  and  Paulinus  of  Nola ; 
or  lastly,  a  personal  investigation  on  the  spot,  as  in 
the  case  of  Sozomen.  We  shall  consider  in  the  first 
instance  the  Byzantine  version. 

The  Emperor  Theodosius  died  at  Milan,  attended 
by  St.  Ambrose,  his  friend,  and  his  spiritual  father. 
This  same  bishop  afterwards  preached  his  panegyric 
whilst  preparations  were  being  made  for  the  removal 
of  the  dead  emperor's  remains  to  Constantinople. 
The  funeral  oration  is  full  of  personal  reminiscences 
of  the  speaker,  and  the  details  it  contains  regarding 
Helena's  life  are  a  real  echo  of  the  common  belief 
in  the  imperial  family.  St.  John  Chrysostom,  an 
independent  witness,  speaks  for  the  common  persua- 
sion of  the  people  living  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus. 
It  is  impossible  not  to  notice  the  similarity  between 
the  two  accounts.  Evidently  both  in  the  highest 
circles,  for  which  St.  Ambrose  speaks,  and  among  the 
lower  classes,  which  St.  John  Chrysostom  represents, 
it  was  believed  that  St.  Helena  had  discovered  the 
three  crosses,  and  had  identified  the  True  Cross,  not 
by  a  miracle,  but  by  the  title  which  was  still  clinging 
to  it.  This  account,  for  the  origin  of  which  we  are 
indebted  to  the  imperial  family  itself,  is  quite  devoid 
of  any  legendary  character. 

'   H.E.  L.  I.  c.  xviii.  ;  P.O.  Ixxx. 

2  Hist.  Arm.  L.  II.  c.  Ixxxvii.,  ed.  Le  Vaillant  de  Florival. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY       251 

Sozomen,  a  Constantinople  lawyer,  made,  as  it 
were,  a  judicial  inquiry  into  the  circumstances  of 
the  finding  of  the  Cross.  He  visited  the  Holy 
Places,  and  questioned  the  descendants  of  the  eye- 
witnesses of  the  event,  and  he  states  that,  with- 
out a  doubt,  the  Cross  had  been  found  by  St. 
Helena. 

Lastly,  Rufinus  and  Paulinus  may  be  taken  as 
reporters  who  have  put  into  writing  the  depositions 
of  those  who  had  witnessed  the  event ;  they  both  owe 
their  information  to  the  elder  Melania,  who  about 
the  year  365 — i.e.  thirty-eight  years  after  the  demoli- 
tion of  the  esplanade — left  Rome  and  went  to  live  in 
the  East.  She  founded  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  a 
monastery,  in  which  Rufinus  came  to  live  with  her. 
In  386,  when  St.  Jerome  and  St.  Paula  paid  her  a  visit, 
she  had  already  passed  ten  years  among  the  recluses 
of  the  Thebaid,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time  at 
Jerusalem.^ 

Melania  and  Rufinus  being  on  excellent  terms  with 
the  bishop  of  Jerusalem  and  with  all  the  clergy,  were 
better  placed  than  any  others  to  glean  the  remaining 
recollections  of  the  finding  of  the  Cross,  especially 
those  of  St.  Cyril.  The  latter  had  been  deposed  by 
the  two  Arian  Councils  of  Csesarea  and  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  the  meantime  he  was  expelled  from 
Jerusalem,  but  was  reinstated  in  his  See  by  an 
orthodox  council  held  at  Seleucia.  After  an  exile 
spent  partly  at  Antioch  and  partly  at  Tarsus,  he 
had  returned  to  Jerusalem,  not  indeed  to  rule  his 
flock,  but  to  spend  his  last  days  in  peace  in 
his  native  place ;  here  he  died  about  386.  It  is 
more   than   probable  that   Rufinus,   who   had   been 

^  Lagrange,  Vie  de  Sainte  Paule,  p.  350  ;  Amedee  Thierry,  Fie 
de  Saint  Jerome,  pp.  127-130. 


252      THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

dwelling  in  the  same  city  since  375,  sought  and 
obtained  from  Cyril  the  information  which  we  find 
in  his  Church  History.  Now  the  value  of  a  chronicle 
must  be  judged  not  merely  by  the  date  of  its  publica- 
tion, but  also  by  the  date  of  the  source  from  which  it 
derives  its  information ;  and  in  the  case  of  Rufinus's 
narrative  this  is  375,  and  not  400. 

In  the  month  of  March  402,  Melania  departed  for 
Italy.  She  visited  her  friend  St.  Paulinus,  to  whom 
she  was  the  bearer  of  a  fragment  of  the  True  Cross. 
Paulinus  gave  her  a  grand  reception  at  Nola.  Now 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  relic  was  not  handed 
over  in  silence,  but  that  it  was  accompanied  by  such 
explanations  as  Melania's  forty-year-long  sojourn  at 
Jerusalem  would  entitle  her  to  give.  These  explana- 
tions are  incorporated  in  Paulinus's  letter  to  Sul- 
picius  Severus,  and  were  in  turn  embodied  by  the 
latter  in  his  Sacred  History.  Here  again  then  we 
must  push  back  the  dates.  Though  the  epistle  to 
Severus  was  written  in  403,  the  real  date  of  the 
information  it  conveys  is  3G5 — viz.  the  date  of 
Melania's  arrival  in  the  East.  The  letter  is  signed 
indeed  by  Paulinus,  but  its  real  author  is  Melania. 

Hence  it  is  incorrect  to  state  that  the  story  of  St. 
Helena  is  a  legend  which  grew  into  being  in  the  last 
twenty  years  of  the  fourth  century.  The  letter  to 
Constantius,  the  building  of  Santa-Croce,  Silvia's 
pilgrimage,  and  the  testimonies  of  Jerome,  Rufinus 
and  Melania,  to  say  nothing  of  that  of  Ambrose,  are 
quite  sufficient  to  dispose  of  any  argument  which 
might  be  derived  from  Eusebius's  sulky  silence.  The 
whole  story  is  an  Eastern  one,  and  the  AVest  enters 
into  it  only  by  reason  of  the  nationality  of  the  pil- 
grims and  historians  who  chronicle  it.  Hence,  bear- 
ing  all  this  in  mind,  we  do  not  hesitate   to   state 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   STORY        253 

that  the   True  Cross  was  restored  to  light  by   St. 
Helena.^ 

p  Though,  as  the  author  shows,  it  is  not  difficult  to  answer  in  de- 
tail each  objection  against  the  finding,  yet  it  is  our  duty  to  point 
out  that  a  more  serious  case  against  it  might  be  made  out  by  taking 
all  the  objections  together.  It  is  improbable,  though  not  impossible, 
that  the  wood  of  the  Cross  should  have  lasted  so  long,  for  we  all 
know  how  quickly  wood,  for  instance  that  of  coffins,  usually  perishes 
when  buried  in  the  ground ;  it  is  improbable,  though  not  impossible, 
that  even  with  the  aid  of  family  documents  the  True  Cross  should 
have  been  located  after  300  years,  and  that  if  a  search  was  really 
made,  and  an  object  really  found,  that  this  was  the  True  Cross,  and 
not  one  of  the  many  hundred  others  which  it  may  be  supposed 
were  buried  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  city.  It  is  also  improbable, 
though  not  impossible,  that  Eusebius  should  not  have  had  a  word 
to  say  of  the  find.  Such  a  series  of  improbabilities  is  bound  to 
occasion  some  doubt  as  to  the  reality  of  the  incident  as  related 
by  Sozomen  and  Rufinus.. — Trans.^ 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   LEGENDS   OF  THE   FINDING   OF  THE   CROSS 

No  story  has  been  more  utilised  for  purposes  of 
legends  than  that  of  the  finding  of  the  Cross.  Abbe 
Tixeront  has  sought  out  so  diligently  the  various 
forms  of  these  legends  that  he  has  left  but  little  work 
remaining  for  those  who  follow  him.  We  shall 
therefore  content  ourselves  with  giving  a  summary 
of  the  results  reached  by  this  able  scholar.^ 

1.    THE    PROTONICE    LEGEND 

The  Protonice  legend  was  published  for  the  first 
time  in  187G  by  G.  Phillips,  a  Cambridge  professor, 
in  his  edition  of  the  Doctiine  of  Addai  the  Apostle.'^ 

Abgar  V  Ouchama,  or  The  Black,  the  fifteenth 
Toparch  of  Edessa,  having  learnt  of  the  miracles 
which  were  taking  place  at  Jerusalem,  sent  thither 
Hannam,  his  secretary,  who  bore  with  him  a  letter  to 
Christ,  beseeching  the  latter  to  come  and  heal  him 
from  leprosy,  and  at  the  same  time  offering  in  touch- 
ing words  to  protect  Him  from  His  enemies.  Christ 
replied  that  His  hour  had  come,  and  that  He  was 
about  to  ascend  to  the  Father,  but  that  He  would 
send  him  one  of  His  disciples,  who  would  cure  him 
and    bring   him    to   life    everlasting.      This  episode 

'  Les  Origines  de  I' £,glise  d'Edesse  el  la  legende  d' Abgar.  Paris : 
Maisonneuve,  1888. 

2  George  Phillips,  Doctrine  of  Addai  the  Apostle.  London :  Triibner, 
1876. 

aS4 


THE   PROTONICE   LEGEND  255 

was   known  to   Eusebius   of  Caesarea^  and  also  to 
Silvia.^ 

In  due  course  our  Saviour  was  crucified,  and 
Thomas,  to  fulfil  his  Master's  promise,  despatched  to 
Abgar  one  of  the  seventy  disciples,  whose  name 
according  to  Eusebius  was  Thaddeus,  according  to 
the  Doctrine,  Addai.  Addai  on  his  arrival  restored 
Abgar  to  health,  and  calling  together  the  court  and 
the  people,  delivered  a  discourse,  of  which  the  Protonice 
story  forms  a  part. 

Tiberius,^  he  said,  before  setting  out  for  the  wars 
in  Spain,  had  appointed  Claudius  as  Caesar.  The 
latter  was  brought  to  the  light  by  St.  Peter,  and  his 
wife  Protonice  likewise  becoming  a  convert,  departed 
on  a  visit  to  Calvary,  accompanied  by  her  two  sons 
and  her  daughter.  On  her  arrival  she  was  informed 
by  the  Bishop  James,  the  relative  of  Christ,  that  the 
Jews  forbade  any  Christian  to  approach  Golgotha. 
On  hearing  this  the  empress  summoned  Honia,  son 
of  the  priest  Hannan,  Ghedelia,  son  of  Caiphas,  and 
Jhuda,  son  of  Ebed- Shalom,  the  chief  of  the  Jews, 
and  formally  withdrew  from  them  all  rights  over  the 
Holy  Places. 

Followed  by  her  children,  Protonice  betook  herself 
to  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  in  which  she  found  the  three 
crosses,  with  nothing  to  distinguish  them.  At  this 
juncture  her  daughter  suddenly  gave  up  the  ghost. 
Protonice's  motherly  feelings  were  aggravated  by 
the  thought  of  the  exultation  of  the  Jews ;  but  her 
eldest  son  addressing  her  said :  "  Mother,  see  rather 
in  this  calamity  an  interference  of  God,  who  wills  that 
by  a  miracle  the  True  Cross  may  be  discriminated 

1  H.E.  i.  13;  P.G.  XX.  120/ 

2  Peregr.  p,  62/ 

3  Vide  Tixeront,  p.  37  ;  Toupin,  note  E,  p.  327  ;  F.  Martin,  p.  270. 


256      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

from  the  gibbets  of  the  thieves."  Accordingly  in  turn 
the  three  crosses  were  appHed  to  the  body  of  the 
dead  girl ;  the  contact  of  the  first  two  produced  no 
result,  but  as  soon  as  the  third  was  brought  in,  the 
girl  awoke  fresh  and  smiling. 

Protonice  delivered  the  crosses  to  the  safe  keeping 
of  the  Bishop  James,  and  directed  that  a  grand  edifice 
should  be  erected  over  the  sepulchre  and  Calvary. 
The  girl  who  had  been  restored  to  life  put  aside  her 
veil,  and  returned  to  the  palace  amidst  the  cheers  of 
the  multitude,  and  the  Emperor  Claudius  on  hearing 
of  what  had  occurred  expelled  all  the  Jews  from 
Italy.  The  anonymous  writer  of  this  narrative  evi- 
dently wishes  the  episode  to  be  dated  somewhere 
about  the  year  51,  for  in  that  year  it  was  that  all 
Jews  were  banished  from  Rome  on  account  of  the 
conspiracy  of  a  certain  Chrestus.^ 

The  resemblance  between  the  Protonice  legend  and 
the  story  of  St.  Helena  is  quite  apparent.  In  both 
accounts  the  three  crosses  are  indistinguishable,  and 
the  True  Cross  is  made  manifest  by  a  miracle ;  in 
both  accounts,  too,  the  finding  is  signalised  by  the 
erection  of  a  basilica.  Tixeront  rightly  points  out' 
that  the  legend  contains  a  detail  which  at  once  de- 
termines its  date — viz.  the  erection  of  a  single 
basilica.  Seeing  how  well  this  agrees  with  the 
description  which  Eusebius  of  C^esarea  has  left  of 
Constantine's  basilica,  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that 
the  author  of  the  Doctrine  wrote  earlier  than  335. 
The  Syriac  legend  is  but  a  feeble  restatement  of  the 
life  of  St.  Helena. 

Even  the  most  fantastic  legends  agree  with  the 
Fathers  in  not  pushing  the  date  of  the  finding  further 

^  Judaeos  impulsore  Chresto  assidue  tumultuantes  (Suetonius, 
Claudius,  25).  -  Op.  cit.  p.  177. 


THE   PROTONICE   LEGEND  257 

back  than  327  ;  thus  an  Ethiopian  tradition  ^  ascribes 
it  to  St.  Theodosia,  a  daughter  of  St.  Helena's  ;  though 
falsely,  for  Constantine  was  Helena's  only  child. 

There  are  other  points  in  the  Protonice  legend 
which  prove  it  to  have  been  the  work  of  a  scholar. 
The  name  Protonice  is  a  symbolic  one  formed  of  the 
two  Greek  words  Trpwrn  viKt] — "  the  first  victory,"  to 
denote  the  first  exaltation  of  the  Cross." 

The  substitution  of  a  figurative  for  a  personal  name 
betrays  that  the  work  in  which  it  appears  is  not  a 
product  of  popular  fancy,  but  merely  that  of  a  single 
individual. 

Tixeront  has  given  an  ingenious  explanation  of 
this  substitution ;  ^  he  points  out  that  "  in  Meso- 
potamia we  find  a  misunderstanding,  which  results 
in  certain  deeds  which  are  recounted  of  Helena  in 
the  fourth  century  being  ascribed  to  a  queen  who 
lived  in  the  first  century."  The  historian  Josephus* 
had  spoken  of  a  different  Helena,  a  queen  of  Adiabene 
and  mother  of  Izates,  a  zealous  Jewess,  who  in  the 
time  of  the  Emperor  Claudius  made  a  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem,  and  there  built  a  memorial.^ 

Moses  of  Khorene,  for  his  part,  describes  her  as  the 
first  wife  of  Abgar  the  Black,  king  of  Edessa,  and 
states  that  she  was  a  Christian.*^  It  is  noteworthy 
that  the  Life  of  Silvester :,  which  is  Syrian  in  its  origin, 
states  that  Constantine's  mother  was  a  Jewess,^  and 

^  Toupin^  note  E.  iii.  p.  329- 

2  Tixeront    sees   in  irpoToviKy  a    distant   allusion    to    the    words 

TOVTIO    VLKa. 

3  Op.  cit.  p.  186-187.  ^  Ajit.  XX.  ii. 

5  Josephus  elsewhere,  in  his  Wars  of  the  Jews,  alludes  to  Helena's 
monument,  e.g.  V.  ii.  2,  etc. 

6  Hist.  Arm.  ii.  35.     But  it  is  really  too  bad  of  Moses  to  refer  us 
to  Josephus  as  his  authority  for  this  statement. 

7  Surius,  31st  December,  370/ 

R 


258      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CKOSS 

that  a  later  tradition,  probably  also  a  Syrian  one, 
which  has  been  preserved  by  Eutychius,^  makes  out 
that  she  was  an  Edessenian.  "  It  is  quite  clear  that 
in  these  countries  some  confusion  arose  between  the 
two  Helenas  ;  from  this  confusion  it  was  only  a  step 
to  the  creation  of  Protonice.  Helena,  the  mother  of 
Izates,  really  lived  under  Claudius,  really  went  to 
Jerusalem,  and  really  erected  a  monument ;  the  only 
details  which  were  borrowed  from  the  life  of  St. 
Helena  were  the  finding  of  the  Cross  and  the  title 
of  Ca?sar's  wife.  By  adroitly  combining  all  these 
elements  there  resulted  that  composite  princess, 
whose  adventures  are  dealt  with  by  Addai ;  the  only 
entirely  new  detail  was  in  the  name." 

The  Protonice  legend  enjoyed  a  certain  popularity 
in  Edessa  and  in  Mesopotamia,  but  it  never  left  the 
country  in  which  it  had  first  seen  the  light,  and  would 
probably  never  have  been  known  in  the  West  had 
not  some  scholars  brought  to  the  libraries  at  London 
and  Paris  an  Armenian  and  three  Syriac  IMSS.^ 

2.    THE   JUDAS-CYRIACUS    LEGEND 

We  have  already  seen^  that  two  Fathers  of  the 
Church  connect  the  Jews  with  the  finding  of  the 
Cross.  Sozomen  speaks  of  their  having  brought  to 
the  empress  one  of  their  rabbis,  who  had  in  his  pos- 
session certain  valuable  deeds.  Sozomen  himself 
seems  to  discount  the  story,  and  prefers  to  believe 
that  the  only  help  received  came  directly  from  above. 
But  this  same  story  in  the  Church,  either  of  Syria  or 
of  Mesopotamia,  grew  into  a  curious  legend,  of  which 
Judas,  surnamed  Cyriacus,  was  the  hero ;  this  legend 
we  shall  now  summarise.* 

1  Oxford  ed.  l658,  p.  408.     2  Tixeront,  p.  170.     ^  Above,  p.  150  f. 
■*  We  shall  follow  the  Latin  version  edited  by  Alfred  Holder, 


THE   JUDAS-CYRIACUS   LEGEND     259 

Constantine  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign  was 
threatened  by  a  horde  of  barbarians  issuing  from 
the  quarters  of  the  Danube.  When  he  had  seen 
their  numbers  he  was  struck  with  fear ;  but  that  very 
night  a  man  all  brilliant  with  light  appeared  to  him. 
"  Be  without  fear,"  said  the  apparition,  "  but  look  at 
the  skies."  The  emperor  immediately  left  his  tent, 
and  there,  in  the  midst  of  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
a  fiery  cross  was  flaming  in  the  skies,  and  on  it  the 
words :  in  this  sign.^  The  emperor  forthwith  had 
a  standard  made,  answering  to  the  shape  of  the  cross 
in  the  skies,  and  this  he  directed  should  be  always 
carried  in  the  forefront  of  his  legions.  The  result 
was  the  barbarians  were  utterly  confounded,  and  fled, 
and  soon  were  lost  to  sight  in  the  mists  of  their 
native  Danube. 

Constantine,  having  returned  in  triumph  to  his 
city,-  sought  in  vain  of  the  heathen  priests  the 
meaning  of  the  mysterious  sign ;  but  the  Christians 
explained  to  him  the  Incarnation  and  the  Passion, 
and  the  emperor,  moved  by  grace,  sent  for  Eusebius, 
the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  was  baptised.  He  then 
overthrew  the  idols,  built  churches,  and  sent  his 
mother  to  Jerusalem  to  find  the  Cross. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  the  second  month 
the  queen,  at  the  head  of  an  army,  arrived  at  Jeru- 
salem. Here  she  called  together  the  wicked  crowd  ^ 
of  Jews.  Three  thousand  Israelites  answered  her 
call.     Helena  then  reproached  them  for  having  cruci- 

Invenlio  S.  Crucis.  Leipzig:  Teubner,  1889-  Another  version  will 
be  found  in  the  Bollandists,  Acta  SS.  4th  May.  De  S.  Jiida 
Quinaco  episcopo  martyre  Hierosolymis. 

^  In  hoc  signo. 

-  Constantinople  is  not  mentioned  in  the  text. 

^  Pessima  turba. 


260      THE   FINDING    OF   THE   CROSS 

fied  Him  who  had  restored  their  dead  to  life,  and 
concluded  her  oration  with  these  words ;  "  Now, 
therefore,  choose  out  among  yourselves  those  who 
are  most  versed  in  the  Law,  and  let  them  be  ready- 
to  answer  such  questions  as  I  shall  put  to  them." 

The  three  thousand  Jews  thereupon  elected  one 
thousand  of  their  number,  upon  which  Helena 
addresses  them  in  bitter  words :  "  The  ox  and  the 
ass  know  their  master,  but  Israel  has  not  known  his 
lord."  At  her  command  the  thousand  Jews  delegate 
five  hundred  of  their  number,  whom  Helena  receives 
even  more  harshly  than  the  first.  "  Go,"  said  she,  "and 
again  choose  out  the  most  learned  men  among  you." 

At  this  point  Judas  appears  on  the  scene.  Tixeront 
has  worked  out  his  supposed  genealogy :  he  was  a 
descendant  of  ZacchcEus.^  In  his  discourse  Judas 
quotes  verbatim  the  words  of  his  father,  Simon ;  this 
latter  calls  St.  Stephen  his  father's  brother ;  hence  we 
obtain  the  following  genealogy  ^ : — 

Zacchyeus 


St.  Stephen  ? 

Simon 

I 

Judas-Cyriacus 

1  According  to  tradition  Zaccliaeus  became  a  fervent  disciple  of 
Christ,  and  afterwards,  with  St.  Martial,  evangelised  Gaul.  Here 
he  was  known  as  Amator,  a  name  which,  corrupted,  became 
Amadour — e.g.  Roc  Amadour.  According  to  some  he  was  St. 
Veronica's  husband,  according  to  others  he  was  her  son.  Ollivier, 
Les  Amities  de  Jesus,  p.  4t3. 

2  We  are  not  told  the  name  of  Simon's  father. 


THE   JUDAS  CYRIACUS   LEGEND     261 

Judas,  addressing  the  five  hundred,  said :  "  The 
queen  is  desirous  of  knowing  what  became  of  the 
wood  to  which  our  fathers  suspended  Jesus.  Beware 
of  giving  a  reply,  since  it  could  only  result  in  the 
downfall  of  our  Law ;  for  Zaccha^us  said  to  my 
grandfather,  and  my  father  told  me  his  very  words : 
'  Know,  son,  that  when  the  wood  of  the  Messias  shall 
be  found,  then  will  the  kingdom  of  the  Hebrews  end 
and  that  of  the  worshippers  of  Jesus  begin ;  for 
Christ  is  the  son  of  the  living  God,  and,  I  myself,  I 
endeavoured  to  dissuade  your  fathers  from  laying 
hands  on  Him ;  but,  in  spite  of  me,  the  ancients  and 
the  priests  crucified  Him,  thinking  that  they  could 
kill  the  Eternal.  Christ,  after  having  been  buried, 
rose  the  third  day,  and  appeared  to  His  disciples. 
Stephen,  thy  brother,  believed  in  Him,  and  taught  in 
His  name,  therefore  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees 
stoned  him.  ...  I  and  my  fathers  believed  that 
Christ  is  really  the  Son  of  God,  therefore  blaspheme 
not  His  name,  care  for  those  who  believe  in  Him,  and 
thou  shalt  have  life  everlasting.'  This  is  what  my 
father,  Simon,  told  me ;  and,  now  that  you  have 
heard  it,  decide  for  yourselves  on  your  future 
conduct." 

The  Jews,  after  due  thought,  decided  that  Judas 
should  keep  to  himself  his  knowledge  of  the  place 
where  the  Cross  was  hidden.  Then  the  soldiers 
arrived  on  the  scene,  and  led  the  five  hundred  back 
to  Helena.  The  empress,  unable  to  obtain  from 
them  any  information,  there  and  then  condemned 
them  all  to  be  burnt  alive.  This  was  an  unexpected 
blow,  and,  in  their  terror,  the  five  hundred  pointed 
to  Judas,  on  whom  alone  Helena  proceeded  to  vent 
her  rage.  "  Choose  between  life  and  death,"  she 
cried  in  threatening  tones.    "  If  thou  desirest  to  live, 


262      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

either  in  this  world  or  in  the  next,  tell  me  where 
is  hidden  the  precious  wood  of  the  Cross."  "  But," 
replied  Judas,  "  how  can  I  tell  ?  I  was  not  even 
born  at  the  time."  "By  the  Crucified,"  retorted 
Helena,  "thou  shalt  surely  die  of  hunger  if  thou 
make  not  known  the  spot." 

Judas  was  accordingly  let  down  into  a  pit,  and  there 
left  to  starve ;  for  seven  days  he  stood  the  ordeal, 
but  at  last,  being  vanquished,  his  voice  was  heard 
issuing  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  piteously 
pleading :  "  I  beseech  you  deliver  me,  and  I  will 
show  you  the  Cross  of  Christ."  Immediately  he  was 
hauled  up  and  taken  to  Calvary.  But  here  he  was 
found  to  know  nothing  of  the  place  in  which  the 
Cross  was  hid ;  but  falling  on  his  knees  he  begged 
the  Lord,  should  it  be  His  will  that  JNIary's  son 
should  reign,  to  show  by  a  miracle  the  spot  where 
the  relic  lay.  Whereupon  the  earth  quaked  and  a 
thick  cloud  of  sweet-smelling  smoke  rose  from  the 
ground.  Judas,  giving  thanks  to  the  Lord  of  Ages, 
girded  his  loins,  and  taking  a  spade,  began  to  dig 
with  zest ;  at  a  depth  of  some  twenty  paces  he  found 
the  three  crosses,  and  carried  them  to  Helena.  At 
noon  there  passed  by  the  funeral  of  a  young  man, 
and  his  restoration  to  life  proved  which  of  the  three 
was  the  True  Cross. 

Satan,  being  now  conquered,  in  angry  tones  pre- 
dicts that  he  will  raise  up  an  apostate  sovereign,  and 
that  the  latter  will  cause  Judas  to  perish  amidst  awful 
torments,  and  that  Judas,  at  the  height  of  his  misery, 
will  deny  Christ ;  .ludas,  however,  nothing  daunted, 
promptly  bids  the  fiend  return  to  his  fiery  dungeon. 

Helena  now  had  the  Cross  placed  in  a  golden 
reliquary,  all  covered  witli  precious  stones,  and 
directed  that  a  basilica  should  be  built  over  Calvary. 


THE   JUDAS-CYRIACUS   LEGEND     263 

Judas  is  subsequently  baptised,  and  the  bishop  who 
had  converted  him  (in  these  Acts  we  do  not  find  any 
mention  of  the  name  of  Macarius)  falls  asleep  in  the 
Lord.  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Rome,  is  therefore  sum- 
moned by  the  queen,  and  by  him  Judas  is  consecrated 
bishop  of  Jerusalem,  and  alters  his  name  to  Cyriacus. 

But  though  Helena  has  been  so  successful,  she  is 
still  sorrowful  because  of  the  absence  of  the  nails. 
Judas  accordingly  returns  to  Golgotha,  and  betakes 
himself  to  prayer.  Then  a  light,  brighter  even  than 
the  sun,  illumines  the  place  of  the  finding,  and  the 
Nails  of  the  Passion,  shining  like  molten  gold,  betray 
their  presence  ;  Helena  carried  away  with  her  two  of 
them,  out  of  which  she  made  a  bit  for  the  emperor's 
war-horse ;  she  also  banished  all  Jews  from  Judea, 
and  the  mission  assigned  her  by  Providence  being 
now  accomplished,  she  died  peacefully  on  the  XVI. 
of  the  Calends  of  May,  directing  that  the  feast  of  the 
Finding  of  the  Cross  should  be  kept  on  the  V.  of  the 
nones  of  the  same  month.  Finally,  Judas-Cyriacus 
and  his  mother  Anna  suffered  martyrdom  at  Jeru- 
salem by  order  of  Julian  the  Apostate. 

Never  have  historical  chronology  and  common- 
sense  been  more  impudently  set  at  naught  by  popular 
fancy  than  in  the  above  legend.^  In  four  generations 
a  family,  of  which  the  father  was  already  an  old  man 
in  A.D.  33,  has  reached  the  year  327 ;  the  manifesta- 
tion at  the  Milvian  bridge  is  transported  to  the 
banks  of  the  Danube ;  Eusebius,  the  Arian  bishop  of 
Nicomedia,  who  baptised  Constantine  on  his  death- 
bed, is  confounded  with  Pope  Eusebius,  who  was 
bishop  of  Rome  in  309  ;  Julian  the  Apostate  is  made 
to  succeed  Constantine ;  nor  was  there  in  the  fourth 
century  any  bishop  of  Jerusalem  of  the  name  of 
1  Tixeront,  oj).  cit.  p.  179. 


264      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

Judas  or  Cyriacus/     The  last  bishop  of  the  name  of 
Judas  lived  under  the  Emperor  Adrian  from  117-138.'- 

Tixeront,  who  has  thoroughly  studied  the  question 
under  all  its  aspects,  opines  that  the  legend  took  its 
rise  in  Mesopotamia  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, but  he  considers  that  some  of  its  elements  are 
of  earlier  date,  and  probably,  though  in  a  different 
form,  it  was  known  to  Sozomen.  We  ourselves 
incline  to  a  different  view ;  between  Sozomen's  ac- 
count and  the  legend  there  is  no  point  of  contact 
whatever.  In  the  former  account  the  Jews  willingly 
offer  their  help,  and  put  forward  one  of  their  own 
people,  who  had  the  necessary  information  among  his 
family  papers ;  on  the  contrary,  in  the  legend  the 
Jews  were  obstinate,  and  only  yielded  on  compulsion, 
and  moreover,  to  begin  with,  Judas  knew  no  more 
of  the  locality  in  which  the  Cross  was,  than  Helena 
herself. 

It  seldom  happens  that  a  legend  has  not  some  real 
fact  underlying  it,  though  often,  owing  to  legendary 
accretions,  the  fact  can  only  be  found  with  difficulty. 
In  this  case  the  fact  is  probably  some  help  afforded 
by  the  Jews,  which  popular  fancy  gradually  magnified 
into  the  Judas-Cyriacus  myth.  It  is  not  impossible 
that  the  Jew  to  whose  help  Helena  was  mainly  in- 
debted was  named  Jude  or  Judas,  though  it  is  absurd 
to  make  him  to  be  a  descendant  of  ZacchtEus  or  a 
bishop  of  Jerusalem.  However  this  may  be,  there 
are  many  writers  who,  like  Dom  JNIarie-Bernard,^ 
believe  that  the  Jews,  hoping  to  curry  favour  with 
Helena,  went  to  meet  her  on  her  arrival,  and  offered 
of  their  own  accord  to  guide  her  by  their  traditions 

^  [Unless  we  have  here  a  distant  allusion  to  Cyril, — Trans.^ 

2  Eus.  H.E.  iv.  5. 

*  L'Eglise  devant  les  barhares,  vol,  i.  p.  iO, 


THE   JUDAS-CYRIACUS   LEGEND     265 

to  the  exact  spot  where  the  rehcs  of  the  Crucifixion 
would  be  found. 

The  Judas-Cyriacus  legend  received  an  official 
commendation  in  the  West  by  being  incorporated  in 
the  first  edition  of  the  L,iher  Pontificalls ;  in  the  sixth 
century  it  was  already  popular,  and  later  on  it  took 
its  place  in  the  Patrology  as  the  most  truthful  ac- 
count of  the  finding  of  the  Cross.^  It  was  only  quite 
late,  and  by  dint  of  the  efforts  of  two  Jesuit  scholars, 
Zaccaria  and  Papebroch,  that  it  fell  into  discredit.^ 

The  faithful  found  themselves  in  the  presence  of 
two  contradictory  traditions,  and  instead  of  seeking 
which  one  contained  the  truth  they  took  as  true  both 
accounts,  in  their  childlike  faith  believing  simultane- 
ously in  the  Protonice  and  Judas  legends.  However, 
in  the  fourth  century  we  already  find  among  the 
Easterns  an  effort  in  the  direction  of  harmony.  St. 
Cyril  of  Alexandria  in  an  obscure  passage  of  his  com- 
mentary on  Zaccharias  says :  "  It  is  narrated  that  at 
different  periods^  the  wood  of  the  Cross  was  found 
still  bearing  the  Nails."  Tixeront  considers  that  the 
text  is  at  least  worth  careful  weighing.* 

To  find  both  the  legends  actually  set  side  by  side 
we  have  to  come  down  to  the  twelfth  century,  when 
we  find  a  Syriac  MS.  dated  1196  kept  at  the  British 
Museum,  and  then,  again,  an  old  English  version 
made  at  Dublin  in  1686  on  a  Syriac  text.^  The  MS. 
first  recounts  the  finding  of  the  True  Cross  by 
Claudius's  wife.     Then  in  a  fragment,  of  which  we 

'  Berengosus,  De  laude  et  invenlione  S.  Cruets,  ii.  5,  7  ;  P.L.  clx. 
956-958  ;  Bede,  P.L.  xciv.  494,  495. 
^  Martin^  op.  cit.  p,  277. 

3  Kara  Kaipovs.     P.G.  Ixxii.  272.     [The  translation  is  uncertain,] 
*  Tixeront,  op.  cit.  p.  170. 
°  Tixeront,  op.  cit.  p.  1 70, 


266      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

can  nowhere  find  the  counterpart,  it  tells  how,  under 
Trajan,  during  the  persecution  in  the  year  107  and 
under  the  episcopate  of  Simeon,  the  Blessed  Virgin's 
nephew,  who  was  then  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
of  age,  the  Jews  seized  the  Holy  Wood  and  buried 
it  in  a  certain  place  at  the  depth  of  twenty  times 
the  height  of  a  man.  I^astly,  the  MS.  gives  the 
Acts  of  Judas-Cyriacus,  who  finds  the  Cross  at  a 
depth  of  twenty  paces.  According  to  this  account 
all  that  Cyriacus  did  was  to  restore  to  light  the  Cross 
which  Protonice  had  already  found,  and  which  had 
been  again  hidden  in  the  reign  of  Trajan. 

Lipsius  comparing  the  "  twenty  times  a  man's 
height "  of  the  Syriac  text  with  the  "  twenty  paces  " 
of  the  Latin  text,  infers  that  from  the  beginning  the 
two  legends  were  connected.  But  Tixeront,  with 
far  more  acumen,  sees  in  the  story  of  the  burial  under 
Trajan  a  mere  connecting  link  forged  by  a  mediae val 
copyist  to  make  the  two  accounts  more  intelligible. 
He  rightly  observes  that,  for  the  plurality  of  the  find- 
ings to  be  established,  it  should  be  vouched  for  by  the 
earliest  authors  and  MSS.  Now  the  earliest  JNISS. 
relate  indeed  the  Protonice  legend,  but  do  not  men- 
tion the  supposed  burial  of  the  Cross  in  107.  The 
recent  date  of  MS.  12174  deprives  the  intermediate 
version  it  contains  of  any  serious  value,  and  allows 
us  to  believe  it  to  be  a  mere  interpolation. 


APPENDIX 

THE  LEGEND  OF  THE  WOOD  OF  THE  CROSS 

St.  Helena  restored  the  Holy  Cross  to  the  devotion 
of  the  faithful.  Popular  fancy,  determined  to  celebrate 
the  happy  discovery  with  due  effusions,  wove  about 
the  story  of  the  finding  an  extraordinary  tale — a  tale 
which  was  only  completed  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
when  we  find  woven  together  in  one  huge  fable  the 
Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil,  the  burial  of 
Adam,  and  the  Passion.  The  legend  is  found  here, 
there,  and  everywhere,  and  a  list  of  its  forms  would 
form  a  very  considerable  bibliography.^  But  there  is 
no  doubt  that  it  dates  from  after  the  year  327,  for 
its  first  traces  are  found  in  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus, 
which  cannot  be  of  much  earlier  date  than  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century.^ 

The  writer  of  this  apocryphal  Gospel — a  writer,  by 
the  way,  whose  inethods  would  deserve  far  more  study 
than  they  have  received — utilises  the  tradition  which 
holds  that,  in  the  interval  between  His  burial  and 
His  Resurrection,  Christ  descended  into  hell  ^  to 
console  and  to  bring  back  with  Him  the  souls  of  the 
just  who  had  died  under  the  olden  Law.  The  first 
act  of  the  drama  is  placed  in  Limbo.     The  patriarchs 

^  See  Adolfo  Mussafia,  Sulla  leggenda  del  legno  della  Croce, 
Sitzungsberichte  dei*  Academic  der  Wissenschaften  (Vienna), 
October  1869,  pp.  l65-2l6. 

^  Migne,  Dictionnaire  des  Apocryphes,  vol.  i.  col.  1088  ;  P.  BatifFol, 
La  litteraturc  grecque,  2nd  ed.  39. 

3  Descendit  ad  inferos. 
267 


268      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

are  impatiently  awaiting  the  coming  of  the  Messias, 
whose  crucifixion  has  just  been  made  known  to  them 
by  John  the  Baptist ;  to  while  away  the  time  they 
are  chatting  with  one  another.  Adam,  speaking  with 
Seth,  says  ^ :  "  Tell  thy  sons,  the  patriarchs  and  the 
prophets,  all  the  things  thou  didst  learn  of  Michael 
the  archangel  when  I  sent  thee  to  the  gates  of 
Paradise  to  beseech  the  angel  of  the  Lord  for  a 
little  oil  of  mercy,  that  thou  mightest  anoint  my 
body  when  I  was  sick." 

Seth  accordingly  addresses  his  children,  and  says  : 
"I,  Seth,  when  I  stood  in  prayer  before  the  Lord  at 
the  gates  of  Paradise,  lo,  INIichael  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  appeared  to  me  saying  :  '  I  have  been  sent  to 
thee  by  the  Lord.  .  .  .  Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  Seth, 
ask  no  longer  in  tears  for  the  oil  of  the  Tree  of 
JNIercy  that  thou  mayest  anoint  thy  father,  and  so 
heal  the  distemper  of  his  body,  for  by  no  means  canst 
thou  receive  of  it,  save  in  the  latter  days  and  after 
five  thousand  five  hundred  years  shall  be  accom- 
plished." Then  will  the  Son  of  God,  full  of  love, 
come  into  the  world  and  raise  up  ^Vdam's  body,  and 
then  too  will  He  raise  the  bodies  of  all  the  dead."^ 

Surely  the  charming  expression  Oil  of  INIercy  pre- 
supposes a  legend.  It  was  useless  for  the  Christian 
who  calls  himself  Nicodemus  to  warn  his  readers 
beforehand  of  the  danger  of  self-delusion,  it  was  vain 
too  for  him  to  remind  them  that  every  man  must  at 
his  last  hour  ascend  Calvary  to  benefit  by  the  Oil  of 
Mercy,  which  is  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins  earned  by 
the  death  of  the  Son  of  God.     Sinful,  suffering  souls, 

'  Ev.  Nicod.  xix.  ;  Migne,  Did.  vol.  i.  col.  1 12:j  ;  xx.  col.  1124. 
^  The  author  was  evidently  a  millenarian. 

3  Cp.  Ord'wale  dc  originc  mundi  in  H.  cle  la  Villemarque,  Lc  grand 
mystere  dc  Jesus,  pp.  t2-4.'3. 


APPENDIX  269 

groaning  in  their  misery,  insisted  upon  their  right 
of  conceiving  Jesus  according  to  their  own  ideas, 
even  if  their  own  ideas  were  not  conformable  to 
the  reahty  of  things,  and  so  they  pondered  and 
dreamed,  until  in  the  thirteenth  century  they  had 
completed  the  narrative  to  their  own  content. 

In  its  perfect  form  the  legend  begins  with  a  grand 
prologue ;  this  is  the  case  in  the  Imago  Mimdi  ^  and 
in  the  account  of  Seth's  journey  to  Paradise,  a  work 
extracted  from  a  Life  of  our  Saviour  then  much  in 
vogue.  ^ 

Adam  feels  the  approach  of  death,  and  sends  Seth 
to  request  the  Oil  of  Mercy  from  the  angel  who 
guards  the  gate  of  Paradise.  Seth  without  difficulty 
finds  the  path  followed  by  his  parents  when  making 
their  exit,  for  though  the  rank  vegetation  has  over- 
grown all,  the  feet  of  Adam  and  Eve  had  so  scorched 
the  ground  that  wherever  they  had  passed  there  is  now 
a  path  condemned  to  perpetual  barrenness.  In  the 
hazy  distance  Seth  could  see  a  glare  like  that  of  a 
forest  on  fire,  and  the  flames  thereof  darting  up  to  the 
very  sky  ;  these  were  the  new  boundaries  of  Paradise  ; 
here  the  angel  allowed  him  to  pass  his  head  thrice 
through  the  entrance,  which  was  defended  by  the 
flaming  sword. 

"  Look  1  "  said  the  angel ;  and  Seth  looking  saw 
Paradise  as  it  had  been  in  the  beginning — all  dazzling 
with  light,  and  painted  with  flowers,  and  shaded  by 
wonderful  luxuriant  growths.  A  giant  tree,  the  Tree 
of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil,  stands  as  a 
guardian  over  a  spring  whence  four  rivers  flow. 

1  See  Migne,  Diet.  vol.  i.  col.  1123,  note  236l. 

2  Migne,  ibid.  Adam,  vol.  i.  col.  387-388.  See  also  Mussafia,  op. 
cit.  appendix  i.  De  morte  Adce ;  also  Louis  Moland,  La  legende 
d'Adam,  Revue  contemporaine,  15th  July  1855,  vol.  xx. 


270      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

"  Look  again,"  said  the  angel ;  and,  behold,  the  Tree 
has  dropped  its  fruit  and  its  leaves,  even  its  bark  has 
peeled  away,  and  round  the  trunk  a  gigantic  serpent 
has  coiled  itself  in  rings,  eating  into  the  Tree  like  a 
canker. 

"  Look  yet  once  again,"  repeated  the  Angel ;  and, 
lo,  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  has  been  restored  to  its 
pristine  beauty,  and  lifts,  even  to  the  skies,  its  glorious 
head,  on  the  crown  of  which  stands  a  child  of  wonder- 
ful beauty ;  beneath,  the  serpent  is  bounding  away 
writhing  as  he  goes. 

The  angel  explains  to  Seth  the  mystery  of  the 
Atonement,  and  then  gives  him  three  seeds  from  a 
fruit  of  the  ancient  Tree,  from  which  in  time  will 
grow  the  new  tree,  which  is  to  furnish  the  wood  of 
the  True  Cross. 

These  details  are  too  well  thought  out,  too  artificial, 
to  be  spontaneous  products  of  the  minds  of  mediaeval 
Christians  ;  we  feel  in  them  the  parasitic  influence  of 
the  troubadours  and  jugglers  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Dom  Marie-Bernard  was  successful  in  disentangling 
the  true  popular  legend  from  the  midst  of  the  ex- 
traneous details  which  have  been  heaped  around  it.^ 
Here  we  find  no  kind  of  preamble.  Seth  sets  out  to 
ask  of  the  angel  who  stands  at  the  gate  of  Paradise  a 
remedy  for  his  father,  who  is  lying  sick  even  to  death. 
The  angel  gives  Seth  a  twig  of  the  tree  which  had 
been  the  cause  of  Adam's  downfall,  and  assures  him 
that  as  soon  as  the  new  tree  shall  have  borne  fruit  his 
father  will  be  cured.  Full  of  joy,  Seth  returns  home, 
but  on  arriving  finds  his  father  already  dead.  "  The 
angel    has   deceived    me,"    he   muttered    bitterly   to 

•  L'£glise  devanl  les  barbares,  vol  i.  p.  31.  The  sources  of  the  in- 
formation given  by  Dom  Bernard  will  be  found  indicated  in  Mussafia, 
op.  cit.  pp.  173-177. 


APPENDIX  271 

himself,  and  he  began  to  weep  over  his  father's  body. 
But,  behold,  the  angel  stands  beside  him,  and  says : 
"  Why  doubt  the  Lord's  promises  ?  Adam's  body 
has  returned  to  dust,  but  when  the  twig  shall  blossom 
the  day  of  remission  will  be  at  hand,  and  death  will 
restore  its  victims.  Plant  therefore  the  twig  on 
Adam's  tomb,  and  treasure  hope  within  thy 
breast."  ^ 

Seth  did  as  he  was  told,  and  the  twig  struck  root, 
and  grew,  but  very  slowly.  By  the  time  when 
Solomon  was  building  his  Temple,  it  was  already  a 
huge  tree,  but  it  was  still  sterile.  The  son  of  David 
was  struck  with  admiration  at  the  size  of  the  tree, 
which  cast  into  insignificance  the  palm-trees  of  Idumea 
and  the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  and  which,  moreover,  was 
of  a  species  quite  unknown  in  Palestine.  He  accord- 
ingly ordered  it  to  be  cut  down  that  its  wood  might 
be  used  in  furnishing  the  Temple.  But  it  came  about 
that,  after  the  workmen  had  pared  and  squared  the 
trunk,  they  could  by  no  means  adapt  it  or  make  it 
fit  into  the  buildings.  The  mysterious  tree  seemed  to 
lengthen  out  and  then  grow  shorter,  thus  bringing  all 
the  plans  of  the  architect  to  naught.  Startled  by  this 
wonder,  the  Jews  began  to  fear  that  they  had  sinned 
in  depriving  Adam's  tomb  of  its  ancient  ornament ; 
they  therefore  deposited  in  a  place  of  honour  within 
the  Temple  precincts  this  venerable  remain  of  the 
first  days  of  Creation. 

A  little  later,  when  Solomon  received  the  visit  of 
the  queen  of  Saba,  the  latter,  being  on  her  way  to  the 
Temple  to  adore  the  God  of  Israel,  caught  sight  of 
the  Adamic  tree  lying  in  the  gateway  of  the  cloisters,^ 

1  As  already  stated,  Adam's  tomb  according  to  popular  belief  was 
within  the  rock  of  Calvary. 

^  According  to  other  accounts  it  was   used  as  a  bridge  over  a 


272      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

and  on  seeing  it,  was  suddenly  seized  by  a  prophetic 
spirit  which  unfolded  to  her  the  future.  Falling  on 
the  ground,  she  remained  for  a  long  time  in  ecstasy, 
and  then  rising  she  addressed  the  king.  "  Hear,  O 
king,"  she  exclaimed,  "  what  the  Almighty  has  revealed 
to  me.  A  day  will  come  when  this  wood  will  be 
used  to  lift  up  a  messenger  from  heaven,  and  the 
death  of  that  messenger  will  be  the  confusion  of 
Israel." 

After  her  departure  Solomon  sought  guidance  from 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  but  the  voice  which  was  wont  to 
issue  from  that  sanctuary  in  the  great  days  of  Israel 
remained  silent.  The  king  fearing  to  offend  God  by 
affording  the  people  a  pretext  for  discussing  a  token 
of  which  the  national  prophecies  said  nothing,  had  a 
deep  pit  dug,  in  which  the  fatal  trunk  was  buried,  and 
then  forgotten. 

At  a  later  period,  in  this  same  portion  of  the  city — 
i.e.  between  the  valley  gate  and  the  Temple — there 
was  made  the  pool  which  in  the  Gospel  is  called 
Probatica,  or  the  sheep  pond,^  and  into  which  an 
angel  descended  every  year  to  stir  the  waters.  Lastly, 
states  the  legend,  when  the  time  of  Christ's  death  was 
at  hand,  the  wood  suddenly  appeared  floating  on  the 
surface  of  the  water,  and  the  Jews,  forgetful  of  the 
prediction  of  the  queen  of  Saba,  made  use  of  it  so  as 
to  fashion  quickly  the  Cross  for  use  on  Calvary.  The 
Tree  of  Seth  is  now  about  to  bear  its  mystical  fruit, 
and  death  will  soon  yield  up  its  prey. 

Mussafia "  and  Dom  Bernard  ^  are  both  of  opinion 
that  this  is  the  most  ancient  version  of  the  myth,  and 

watercourse,   and    the   queen  of  Saba   refused   to   walk   over   it. 
Migne,  Diet,  vol,  i.  col.  1123,  note  2631. 

'  Jn.  V.  2.  '^  Op.  cit.  p.  16"5. 

^  L'Eglise  devant  les  barbares,  vol.  i.  p.  44. 


APPENDIX  273 

that  it  hails  from  Greece,  of  which  we  seem  to  feel  the 
simplicity  and  freshness  as  we  read  it.  Dom  Bernard 
also  states  that  the  Greeks  attribute  it  to  a  convert 
Jew,  Nicodemus — i.e.  to  the  author  of  the  apocryphal 
Gospel  which  bears  this  name.  On  this  latter  point 
we  cannot  agree,  as  the  fragment  of  the  Gospel  quoted 
above  is  quite  sufficient  to  prove  a  diversity  of  authors. 
At  any  rate  most  of  the  details  of  the  legend  were 
derived  from  the  East,  and  at  a  comparatively  late 
date.  Thus  the  episode  of  the  queen  of  Saba  was 
imported  by  Adelphus  as  late  as  the  time  of  the 
crusades.^ 

The  legend  gave  rise  to  several  versions,  of  which  it 
is  not  always  easy  to  determine  the  derivation.  One 
is  quoted  by  Mussafia.  Adam,  we  are  told,  had 
carried  away  with  him  from  Paradise  a  fruit  and  a 
branch  of  the  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and 
Evil.  This  branch  when  planted  in  the  soil  of  the 
Promised  Land  became  the  wood  of  the  Cross. 

Yet  a  third  form  of  the  legend  is  characterised  by 
the  manifest  wish  of  bringing  Moses  and  the  mystery 
of  the  Blessed  Trinity  into  the  history  of  the  Tree 
and 'of  the  Crucifixion.  In  this  form  the  story  is 
incorporated  in  the  Istoire  du  monde  ^  and  in  the  Vie 
de  Nostre  Seigneur  Jesus  Christ.^ 

The  angel,  according  to  this  account,  gives  Seth 
three  seeds  of  the  apple  into  which  Adam  had  bitten. 
"  When  thou  shalt  have  come  to  thy  father,"  says  the 
Vie  de  Nostre  Seigneur,  "  he  will  die  three  days  after. 
Thou  shalt  bury  him  with  the  help  of  his  wife  and 

^  Migne,  Apocryphes,  loc.  cit. 

2  Migne,  Apocryphes.  [Another  form  is  found  in  the  Geschiedenis 
van  het  heylighe  Cruys,  or  History  of  the  Holy  Cross.  Reproduced  in 
fac-simile  from  the  original  edition  by  Veldener  in  1483.  Edited 
by  J.  P.  Berjeau.     London^  1863. — Trans.] 

8  Ibid. 


274      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

his  children,  but  before  covering  his  body  with  earth 
thou  shalt  place  these  three  seeds  in  his  mouth,  for 
by  his  mouth  he  sinned,  and  by  his  mouth  it  behoveth 
that  his  sin  be  repaired  ;  and  then  there  shall  arise 
from  these  three  seeds,  three  trees  which  shall  bear 
and  carry  the  fruit  of  life." 

Adam  dies,  and  Seth  carries  out  his  instructions ; 
the  seeds  germinate  on  the  hillock  which  later  on  will 
be  known  as  Calvary,  but  so  slowly,  that  at  the  time 
of  the  deluge  they  had  not  yet  emerged  above  the 
ground.^  They  had  only  reached  the  rank  of  bushes 
by  the  time  of  Moses."  When  the  Red  Sea  had 
engulfed  Pharao  and  the  Egyptians,  JNloses  and  Aaron 
with  their  brothers  Caleb  and  Josue,  came  to  sing 
Alleluia  on  the  future  Calvary.  Then  did  Moses 
exclaim  :  "  What  are  those  three  saplings  ?  Never, 
upon  my  word,  have  I  seen  three  goodlier  trees. 
They  figure  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity.  At  all 
costs  I  will  cut  them  and  take  them  away  with  me. 
May  God  the  Father  be  praised."  ^ 

Before  giving  up  the  ghost,  Moses  planted  the  three 
saplings  on  Mount  Thabor.  In  the  Cornwall  mystery- 
play  God  the  Father  is  said,  during  the  reign  of 
King  David,  to  have  commanded  the  angel  Gabriel  * : 
"  Hasten  to  Jerusalem  and  say  to  King  David  that 
he  will  find  in  Arabia,  on  Mount  Thabor,  saplings 
planted  by  Moses.  He  must  carry  them  to  Jerusalem, 
for  a  child  shall  be  born  of  me  at  Bethlehem  who 
shall  redeem  the  world,  and  of  the  saplings  shall  be 

1  De  la  Villemarqu^,  Le  grand  mystere  de  Jesus,  p.  45. 

2  [Possibly  here  there  may  be  a  reminiscence  of  the  "burning 
bush/'  but  so  far  as  I  know  this  is  not  stated  explicitly  by  any 
version. — Trans.^ 

3  Ibid,  p  46. 

4  Ibid.  pp.  47,  48. 


APPENDIX  275 

made  the  Cross  on  which  Christ,  my  beloved  son,  shall 
be  crucified." 

David  accordingly  brought  the  three  young  trees 
to  Jerusalem,  where,  because  the  three  persons  of  the 
Trinity  form  but  one  God,  they  grew  up  together 
into  a  single  tree  which  in  a  few  years  attained  a 
gigantic  size.  We  already  know  how  Solomon 
endeavoured  to  use  this  tree  in  the  building  of  the 
Temple,  and  how  after  fruitless  efforts  it  was  deposited 
in  the  Temple  cloisters. 

In  this  fable  the  queen  of  Saba  no  longer  appears, 
but  a  woman  named  Maxilla  comes  and  sits  upon  the 
trunk.  Her  dress  catches  fire,  and  being  seized  by 
the  spirit  of  prophecy,  she  foretells  the  mystery  of 
Golgotha.  The  Jews  are  indignant,  and  accuse  her 
of  blasphemy  ;  she  is  condemned,  and  dies  confessing 
the  Blessed  Trinity.  The  tree  is  buried,  and  after- 
wards is  thrown  into  the  sheep  pond,  and  lastly  is 
used  for  making  the  True  Cross. 

Alas  I  the  poetic  inspiration  is  waning  fast,  and  one 
improbability  is  heaped  upon  another:  Moses  sings 
Alleluia  like  a  Christian ;  he  speaks  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity  as  if  Christ  had  already  revealed  it ;  he  who 
died  on  Mount  Nebo  as  a  punishment  for  his  lack  of 
faith  is  here  depicted  visiting  the  Promised  Land, 
Jerusalem,  and  Thabor.  The  profound  ignorance  of 
the  compilers  of  Bestiaries  and  Lapidaiies  has  left  its 
fatal  marks  on  the  chaste  form  of  the  primitive 
Eastern  tale. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  under  the  latter,  degraded, 
form  that  the  legend  succeeded  best  amongst  the 
Westerns.  Under  this  form  it  furnished  the  elements 
of  the  Cornwall  mystery  called  the  Ordinale  de 
origine   Mnndi^   which    E.    Norris    edited    from    a 

1  The  Ancient  Cornish  Drama  (Oxford,  1859). 

s2 


276      THE   FINDING   OF   THE   CROSS 

fifteenth-century  MS.  Hersart  de  la  Villemarqu^, 
in  his  introduction  to  the  Grand  mystcre  dc  Jesus, 
committed  a  strange  mistake  in  supposing  that  the 
part  played  by  Maxilla  is  intended  to  honour  the 
Maid  of  Orleans,  for  Maxilla  makes  her  appearance 
in  the  literature  of  the  thirteenth  century,  long 
before  Joan  of  Arc  perished  at  the  stake. 

But  the  legend  had  still  some  time  to  run ;  it  had 
to  descend  even  lower  on  the  pathway  of  decay.  In 
the  thirteenth  century  Hermann,  a  priest  of  Valen- 
ciennes, inserted  into  a  Bible  yet  a  fourth  version  in 
Alexandrine  verse.  The  poem,  which  is  in  strophes  of 
eight  syllables  and  is  entitled  Nostre  Dame  Saincte 
3Iarie,  has  been  summarised  and  explained  thrice — 
once  in  1835  by  those  who  continued  the  Literary 
History  of  France  begun  by  the  Benedictines  of  S. 
Maur,^  and  again  in  1830  by  Leroux  de  Lincy,  ^ 
and  once  more  by  Count  de  Douhet.^ 

A  thousand  years  after  the  Fall,  Abraham  found 
in  his  garden  a  splendid  tree.  An  angel  informs  him 
that  this  is  the  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and 
Evil,  which  had  been  transplanted  to  this  place  by 
order  of  Jehovah,  that  his  daughter  will  conceive,  on 
smelling  the  scent  of  this  tree,  a  knight  who  will  bear 
in  his  turn  the  grandmother  of  the  Saviour,  and  that 
lastly  the  tree  will  furnish  the  wood  of  the  True 
Cross.  In  the  event,  what  had  been  predicted 
happened  to  the  maid,  and  when,  to  prove  her 
innocence,  she  entered  into  the  fire,  the  flames  were 
changed  to  flowers.  In  due  season  she  gave  birth 
to  the  knight  Fanuel,  who  afterwards  became 
emperor. 

1  XVIII.  (ed.  Didot,  1835)  p.  834. 

2  Le  Livre  des  U-gendes,  Paris  :  Silvestre,  1836,  24. 

^  Did.  des  Legciidcs,  art.  6'.  Anne,  ed.  Migne  col.  1420. 


APPENDIX  277 

Fanuel  cutting  open  a  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Know- 
ledge, wiped  his  knife  on  his  thigh ;  the  juice  pene- 
trating his  skin,  caused  an  inflammation.  In  vain  he 
consulted  the  doctors  :  they  could  suggest  no  remedy, 
and  the  malady  was  only  cured  finally  by  the  appear- 
ance of  a  baby  girl.  The  emperor,  in  great  wrath, 
ordered  the  child  to  be  carried  to  the  nearest  forest, 
and  there  slain.  A  knight  undertook  to  carry  out 
this  brutal  order,  but  at  the  moment  he  raised  his 
sword  to  slay  the  girl  an  angel  appeared,  and 
cried  : 

Slay  not  the  poor  little  thing 

For  from  her  shall  rise  a  virgin 

From  whom  God  shall  take  flesh  and  bone 

When  to  earth  He  comes  to  atone.  ' 

Accordingly  the  child  is  laid  in  a  swan's  nest,  where 
she  is  miraculously  nurtured  by  a  goat. 

Ten  years  later  Fanuel,  hunting  in  the  forests  of 
Jerusalem,  pursues  the  goat,  which  flies  for  refuge  to 
the  child,  who  has  now  become  a  maiden.  The 
latter  motions  off  the  hounds,  and  requests  the 
sovereign  to  spare  the  animal  which  has  been  her 
nurse.  The  emperor  answers  :  "  Who  art  thou  ?  " 
"  Sire,"  she  replies,  "  I  am  she  whom  thou  broughtest 
into  the  world." 

Fanuel  thereupon  takes  her,  and  gives  her  in 
marriage  to  the  knight  Joachim,  and  becomes  the 
grandfather  of  Anne,  the  mother  of  Christ. 

Here  we  can  easily  discern  the  feudal  elements  of 
the  tale ;  the  trial  by  fire  is  the  German  "  Ordeal." 
Fanuel's   daughter   and   Genevieve   of  Brabant  are 

1  N'oecise  pas  cette  meschine 
De  li  istra  una  virgine 
Ou  Dex  char  et  sane  prendera 
Quant  en  tei're  descendera. 


278      THE   FINDING   OF   THE    CROSS 

sisters,  and  Dagobert's  hunting  exploit  has  suggested 
the  incident  of  the  goat. 

The  simple  beauty  of  the  Greek  narrative,  the 
pedantic  theology  of  the  Istoire  du  vioiule,  has  made 
room  for  another  form  of  the  legend  the  heaviness 
and  ungainliness  of  which  we  can  only  compare  with 
the  armour  of  the  knights.  Pure  gold  has  changed 
into  vile  lead,  and  the  tradition  has  reached  its  end, 
slain  by  a  piece  of  literature  of  which  it  is  difficult  to 
say  which  is  the  more  noticeable,  its  absurdity  or  its 
impropriety.  The  fact  is,  to  compose  a  Christian 
legend  it  is  not  sufficient  to  be  a  master  of  arts,  or 
a  troubadour,  or  even  a  priest,  like  Hermann.  The 
only  fit  composer  of  such  a  real  ballad  is  mankind, 
suffering  and  believing  mankind.  Only  those  who, 
like  Christ,  carry  their  cross  to  Golgotha  can  give 
to  Christ  the  best  of  their  tenderness  and  hopes. 
Only  among  such  do  we  find  true  poets  of  the  faith. 


INDEX 


Aachen,  27 

Abgar,  254 

Adam's  tomb  and  skull,  9,  271 

Adamnanus,  53 

Adrian,  i,  11,  70,  72 

Adriatic,  159 

Adrichomius,  21,  53 

yEIia  Capitolina,  i,  78^ 

Agricius,  204 

Agrippa,  sec  Herod 

Akiba,  70 

Album,  171 

Alexander  monaclms,  120 
Alexius  Comnenus  I.,  219 

Ambrose,  91,  97,  123,  152/,  226,  250 

Anastasius  Bibliothecarius,  168 

Angel's  Stone,  35 

Antiqua,  Porta,  6 

Antonia,  5 

Antoninus,  M.,  23,  35,  194 

Assumptionists,  3,  21 

Arculfus,  52/ 

Aries,  114,  116 

Artemius,  97,  131/,  165 

Aruspices,  120/ 

Autun,  125,  128 


B 


Bar  Kokaba,  71 

Baronius,  91,  121 

Basil  of  Seleucia,  9,  13 

Bede,  52 

Bema,  15 

Benedict  XIV. ,  228 

Benedictines,  97 

Berengosus,  94 

Bernard  the  monk,  53,  231 

Besan9on,  124,  221 

Bethlehem,  73 

Bezetha,  4 

Bit,  the  Holy,  161,  219/ 

Bollandists,    98,    102,    121,    123,    153, 

200,  210, 
Boniface  of  Ragusa,  34 

279 


Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  21,  234^ 

Bosio,  189 

Bruno,    Archbishop   of    Cologne   206, 

220 
Byzantium,  see  Constantinople 


Cabrol,  Abbot,  10 

Calmet,  Dom,  75 

Calvary,  3/",  72 

Calvin,  189 

Cassiodorus,  91 

Catherine  Emmerich,  29,  31,  36,  39, 
47,  202 

Cedrenus,  120,  131 

Cedron,  4,  67 

Cestius  Gallus,  63 

Chateaubriand,  30,  36,  67 

Chosroas,  2 

Christ,  see  Coat,  Epistle,  Footprint, 
Girdle,  Knife,  Portrait,  Precious 
Blood,  Prison 

Christians'  Street,  Jerusalem,  II 

Coat,  the  Holy,  2,  205/" 

Coenaculum,  22,  50^ 

Cohort,  Roman,  20 

Constantine,  i,  97 #.  I37-I40#,  238 

Constantine  Monomachus,  2 

Constantinople,  lio,  127 

Constantius  Chlorus,  92  ff 

Corrieris,  Dom  de,  191 

Crispus,  104,  1X2,  114,  143 

Cross,  forms  of,  74#,  I34  ;  as  punish- 
ment, 41,  66;   symbols  of,  78,  84; 
relics  of,    170,    194  ;    legend   of  the 
wood  of,  267  jf 
Crown  of  Thorns,  12,  28,  56,  61,  69 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  32/,  55,  242/ 


D 


Damascus,   Neapolitan    or    Galilean, 

Gate,  13,  22,  148 
Daniel,  Abbot,  24,  52 
Dardania,  99 
David,  3,  8,  25 


280 


INDEX 


Didon,  Henri,  9/,  32 
Diocletian,  100^,  105 
Dismas,  46  ;  his  cross,  199^ 
Dominicans,  3,  7 
Drepane,  90 
Duchesne,  Mgr.,  38,  245 


E 


EccE-HoMO  Arch,  16 

Epiphanius,  St.,  50,  61,  68 

Epiphanius  the  pilgrim,  25 

Ephraim  Gate,  6,  8,  26 

Epistles  of  Christ,  197 

Ernoul,  13 

Eucharius,  113,  206 

Eucherius,  150 

Eumenius,  98,  115,  117 

Eusebius  of   Caesarea,   64,    103,    117, 

121/,  126,  132/,  237^ 
Eusebius  of  Nicomedia,  122 
Eusebius,  Pope,  259,  263 
Evagrius,  13 
Ezechias,  wall  of,  ^ff 


Graffito  of  the  Palatine,  43,  75 
Gregory  of  Tours,  151,  159 
Grethenios,  55 
Gretser,  39,  49,  131 
Guerin,  Victor,  i,  6,  29,  33 


H 


Haceldama,  4 

Hakem,  2 

Helena,  St.,   17,  90  ff;  relics  of,  163- 

166 
Helena  of  Adiabene,  257 
Herod  Agrippa  I.,  4 
Herod  Agrippa  H.,  69 
Hesychius,  51 
Hincmar  of  Rheims,  207 
Hinnom,  4 

Hippicus  (tower),  4,  25,  68 
Hugo  of  Flavigny,  124 


Iren/t;us,  76/ 

Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  199 


Fausta,    104,   114,   116,   123/,    131, 

143/ 
Fergusson,  James,  i,  6,  22,  33 
Finding  of  the  Cross,  date  of  the,  157, 

230,  247,  263 
Fish  Gate,  6 

Fleury,  Charles  Rohault  de,  29 
Florus,  14 

P'ouard,  Constant,  9,  19,  63,  76 
Footprints  of  Christ,  23,  50 
Fretellus  Archidiaconus,  25 
Fulda,  228 


Galbrius,  100,  106 /7i  118,  126 

Gareb,  4,  9 

Gates     of    Jerusalem,     see     Anliqua, 

Ephraim,  Gennath,  Damascus,  Jaffa, 

and  Fish  Gates 
Gehenna,  4 
Gennath  Gate,  5/,  8 
Gerbet,  Mgr.,  88,  153 
Germer-Durand,  10 
Gethsemani,  51 
Girdle  of  Christ,  27 
Goatha,  9 

Gospel  of  the  Childhood,  203 
Gospel  of  Nicodemus,  48,  201,  267 
Gospel  of  St.  Peter,  26,  202 


Jaffa  Gate,  4 

James,  chair  of,  151 

Jerome,  9,  73,  77,  24S 

Jerusalem,    1-40,    71,    141  ^,  ^ce   also 

yElia 
John  Damascene,  77 
John  of  Gischala,  61,  65 
John  of  Wtirzburg,  25 
Joseph  of  Arimathxa,  10/,  32,  45,  48 
Josephus,  3,  8,  17,  65 
Judas-Cyriacus,  legend  of,  151,  258^ 
Julian  the  Apostate,  97 
Justin  M.,  75/ 


K 


Khitrowo,  Sophie  de,  24 
Knife  of  the  Last  Supper,  205,  207 
Kraus,  79 


Labarum,  125^ 

Lacordaire,  38 

Lactantius,  62,  102/,  106/,  117,  134 

Lagrange,  i,  49 

Lance,  the  Holy,  56,  58,  69 


INDEX 


281 


Langherrand,  17 

Legio  X. ,  Fretensis,  66,  70 

Legio  XII.,  Fulmuiata,  27 

Lejay,  Paul,  23,  234 

Licinius,  119 

Lipsius,  Justus,  42,  74,  84 

Lithostrotos,  15,  19/ 

Longinus,  26,  58  y 


M 

Magdeburg  Centuries,  225^ 
Minutius  Felix,  84,  86 
Modestus,  2,  46 
Molinier,  Auguste,  see  Tobler 
Monograms,  87/,  124,  127 
Mooristan,  at  Jerusalem,  22 
Moriah,  4,  6 
Mousket,  25 
Mussafia,  267 


N 


Nails,  156,  159/;  197/,  218/,  249, 

see  also  Iron  Crown 
Naissus  or  Nisch,  in  Bulgaria,  99 
Nazarius,  133 
Nicephorus  Callistus,  93,  99,  102,  127, 

131,  227 
Nicomedia,  102^,  145 
Northcote,  78 


O 


Ollivier,  M.  J.  H.,  I,  6,  13.  17,  26, 

38 
Omar,  2 
Ophel,  3 
Origan,  62 
Orosius,  71 


Palace  of  Caiphas,  24/,  35 

Pallium,  142 

Papebroch,  234,  265 

Paulinus  of  Nola,  "jt,,  123,  155,  251 

Pelagius,  Pope,  214 

Pella,  64,  68 

Persians,  2,  41,  47 

Peter,  pastoral  staff  of,  113 

Peter,  prophecy  of,  61  y 

Petronius,  26 

Petronius  the  satirist,  43 

Phasaelus  (tower),  4,  68 

Philostorgius,  131 


Phlegon,  62 
Pilate,  15/;  48 
Pilgrimages,  21 
Pillar  of  the  Scourging,  22,  56 
Portraits  of  Christ,  23/",  2<i,of 
Prcetorium,  15  ^ 
Precious  Blood,  58 
Primatial  jurisdiction,  141,  213/^ 
Prison  of  Christ,  30/ 
Procopius,  90 
Projectiles,  Roman,  8 
Protonice,    legend    of,     229,     254, 
[Petronice  230] 


QUARESMIUS,  34,  54 
Quiriacus,  see  Judas 


R 


Relics,  56,  58,  178/,  234 
Robinson,  6 

Rome,  relics  at  Santa-Croce,  l^Sff 
Rossi,  G.  B.  de,  83 


Saulcy,  F.  Caignart  de,  i,  6,  17 

Scala  Santa,  16,  20 

Segusio  Pass,  125 

Sella,  16 

Sepulchre,  the  Holy,  32^,  67 

Sessorian,  139,  169,  180 

Severus,  106  JT,  114 

Sicarii,  61 

Siloe,  23/ 

Silvester,  Pope,  122,  159,  167,  204^ 

Silvia,  194,  246 

Sion,  3,  52,  60,  69,  150 

Sion,  Convent  of,  20 

Socrates,  60,  131,  156 

Soemundarson,  Nicholas,  127,  219 

Sophia,  basilica  of  Sancta,  23  y 

Sozomen,  151,  153,  156,  251,  259 

Standard,  see  Trophies 

Stephen  the  Proton.artyr,   13,  35,  60, 

205 
Struthion,  19 
Sulpicius  Severus,  155 
Sybel,  von,  228 
Surius,  132 


T,  the  Greek  letter,  78/ 
Tacitus,  3,  26,  80,  82 


282 


INDEX 


Temple,  Herod's,  4,  18/,  65,  70/ 
Temple  of  Jupiter  at  Jerusalem,    70, 

233 
Tertullian,  78,  82/,  85 
Teutsige,  164 
Theoderic,  21 
Theodora,  97,  lOi 
Theodoret,  98,  123 
Theodosius,  13,  24,  51 
Theophanes,  72 
Title  of  the  Cross,  170^ 
Titus,  1,17,  40,  66/ 
Tixeront,  157,  230 
Tobler,  Titus,  6 
Tomb  of  Christ,  32/ 
TOVTU)  v^Ka,  124,  126,  132,  136 
Treves,  loi,  122,  204^ 
Trophies,  or  Roman  standards,  26,  84, 

135 

Tyropoeon,  3,  21 


Venus,  statue  of,  at  Jerusalem,  72,  233 
Veronica,  28,  260 
Vexilla,  see  Trophies 
Visigoths,  177 

Vogtie,  Charles  Jean  Melchior  de,   i, 
6,  7,  10,  17 


W 

Walls  of  Jerusalem,  t^ff,  67/ 

Ward,  Mgr.,  20 

Way  of  the  Cross,  14/ 

William  of  Tyre,  25 

Willibald,  231 

Willems,  122 

Windisch,  in  the  Tyrol,  99 

Winer,  76 


Ulpian,  45,  59 


U 


York,  90,  1 1 1 


Valentinian  III.,  176/ 
Vandals,  178,  205 
Venice,  161,  163,  220 


Zanecchia,  I,  6,  8,  24 
Zizyphus  spina  Christi,  12 
Zonaras,  104,  1 15,  131 
Zosimus  the  historian,  96,  104,  no 
Zozimus,  Pope,  214 


THE  RIVERSIDE  PRESS  LIMITED,  EDINBURGH. 


DATE  DUE 

^MH^^^^^"^- 

»)W  19^ 

9'7"r 

CAYLORD 

BS2425.71  .C7 

The  finding  of  the  cross 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00058  9400 


^^^7y^?-::;.-'={;i^JiX--' 


5;';-;^^^-^'V;-T./v.tUiC':-,--i>'-;i'-<ia 


"S;i  ^^^li^^lltWteH^i^'Siilr 


,  ■•':^.;^•^7'^.:•;'•■;i^^■:<^x<•:^•-'=^^ 


<   '- 


••.li;<-.-...-o,.,;^'^^'  C-'- 


aSJ! 


■.':L?^>'V''.i'-.'?;.*.'/a 


